


What the Wolf Wants

by thiamislife_thiamislove



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-01-30 12:42:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12653727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiamislife_thiamislove/pseuds/thiamislife_thiamislove
Summary: Liam's been on edge lately, snapping at everyone and everything. No one in the pack can seem to get through to him. Fortunately Theo has a few ideas.





	1. Puppy Police

“Liam, wait up!” Mason called out, practically running through the school hallway to catch up with his friend. “What do you want?” the beta snarled turning around. “You weren’t at the pack meeting this afternoon, is everything okay?” Mason asked with a concerned tone. “I’m fine” Liam replied tersely. “You sure, you seem a little on edge lately” Mason said. “I said I’m fine!” Liam shouted while slamming his fist into the nearest locker, leaving a large dent and blood trickling down his hand. “Whoah, calm down, we’re all just trying to look out for you” Mason said putting his hands up like he was attempting to surrender. “I can look out for myself, I’m tired of everyone always treating me like I’m a loaded gun” Liam growled back, slightly calmer than before. “If you say so, just remember that we’re here, and we all care about you, so if something’s up just tell us so we can help you” Mason replied. Liam grunted what Mason could only assume was some form of begrudging acknowledgement, before storming off out of the school.

Scott looked down at his phone and read the text from Mason detailing the incident at the school with the locker.  “Remind me why I’m spending the better part of my afternoon in the back room of an animal clinic?” Theo said, back against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. “Because I thought you’d want to help” Scott stated “It’s Liam” he continued. “Aww, what’s the matter, big bad alpha can’t handle his own beta?” Theo teased “For once will you just shut up and let me finish?!” Scott shouted. “By all means, floor is all yours” Theo said mockingly with his hands in the air. Scott glared at the chimaera across the room from him, “so who did he kill?” Theo asked. “No one” Scott replied, “at least not yet” he finished with a tone of worry in his voice. “Go on” Theo replied. “He’s been skipping pack meetings, and Mason just told me he broke a locker earlier today” the alpha said. “So? Kid needed to let off a little steam, what’s the big deal?” Theo retorted “the big deal is that he’s losing control of his anger and he’s shutting us out” Scott said back. “Probably should have thought about that _before_ giving the bite to a kid with IED” Theo chided. Scott growled menacingly at the chimaera. “Okay, okay, hindsight is 20/20 I get it” Theo said defensively. “So how long has this been going on?” he asked. “He’s seemed really on edge for the last few months, but the past two weeks have been the worst. Everyone’s noticed it, he’s snapping at even the smallest thing, and last week Corey mentioned that he broke 20 pencils in a single period. Anytime we ask him what’s wrong, he just gets mad and storms off” Scott responded. “So what do you want my help for?” Theo asked inquisitively. “I don’t understand it, but for some reason you seem to be able to get through to him in a way that no one else can. He trusts you Theo. I was hoping you could try to reach out to him, to see what’s going on, before he hurts someone, or himself” Scott finished. “So you want me to play puppy police?” Theo chuckled “Theo, this is serious! Just try to talk to Liam, if anyone can get him to open up it’s you” Scott said. “Fine, since your way isn’t working, I’ll go play bad cop with your baby wolf” Theo teased “Theo!!” Scott shouted, “Kidding, but seriously what do you expect me to do?” he questioned. “I don’t know, maybe take him out for a run? That usually helps to calm me down” the alpha mused.


	2. Cabin In The Woods

Theo pulled his truck up and kept it rolling at the same pace as Liam was walking from the school. “Want a lift?” Theo asked rolling down the window, Liam looked up at the chimaera, “I’m good, I’d rather walk” he said. This was going to be harder than Theo thought. “Liam, c’mon, get in. I really need your help” the beta just kept walking “Did Scott send you to spy on me?” he hissed. “Scott doesn’t know I’m here” Theo replied. It was only a quasi-lie he thought to himself, sure Scott had sent him, but he didn’t know exactly _where_ he was at the moment, so it was at least true enough that the chimaera could hide his heartbeat from betraying him. Liam stopped when he heard that, “So what are you here for then if Scott didn’t send you?” he puzzled. “Got a tip there’s a new group of hunters organizing deep in the woods near the outskirts of town, you’re the only one in the pack that won’t slow me down, and I could really use the extra set of claws in case they’re better armed than I thought” Theo explained. “Fine” Liam mumbled. Theo stopped the truck and the beta opened the door and climbed inside, “but this better not be some kind of ‘intervention’!” he said accusingly.

The car ride to the preserve was uncomfortably quiet, you would have needed a chainsaw to cut through the tension. Liam just stared out the passenger window, brow furrowed the entire drive, not saying a word. Theo could smell the bottled up emotions seeping off of the beta, anger, irritation, and something else . . .frustration maybe? Strange the chimaera thought.

It was dark out by the time Theo eventually pulled the truck up to the end of the service road deep in the forest. “Looks like we have to walk from here” the chimaera observed, Liam grumbled something under his breath and hopped out of the truck. “Do you even know where these hunters are?” said with a touch of annoyance in his voice. “I have a general idea, but that’s why you’re here to help me track them, come on, lets head this way” Theo led into the woods. Hours had passed, the two boys running through the thick foliage, trying to find the scent of the alleged hunters camping somewhere nearby. “You get anything?” Theo asked, “not yet” Liam panted out of breath, “you sure they’re out here?” “Positive” the chimaera replied. This Liam seemed calmer than the Liam that was in the truck, or the locker destroying Liam Scott had told him about earlier. Allowing him to focus on one task and let him be in control seemed to be helping. “Let’s keep going then” Liam piped up, less tension in his voice this time.

While it was a great plan, Theo hadn’t really figured out how this would end, or what he was going to do next. Hell, he hadn’t even bothered to check the weather; which was quickly seeming like an ever worsening oversight. “Liam!” the chimaera called out, through the dark “Over here” the beta shouted back leaning against a tree catching his breath. All around them the wind had started to pick up, and there were ever increasing flashes of lighting across the sky. “I didn’t know it was supposed to storm” the chimaera said, “me neither” Liam replied “the rain is going to make it harder to scent the hunters too” he finished. At that moment the drizzle of rain, turned into a torrential downpour, turning the ground beneath them into a muddy bog. “We have to get out of this rain” Liam called out over the last burst of thunder, “think we can make it back to the truck?” he asked. “Too far, it would take us hours” the chimaera yelled back, the ever increasing wind blowing raindrops into his face that felt more like bullets. “What do we do then?” Liam shouted. “I think there’s one of the Hale cabins nearby, we should be able to make it, and ride out the storm there” Theo suggested “What about the hunters?” Liam inquired, “Let’s just hope they’re having worse luck than we are” Theo smirked back. The two boys headed off through the night’s tempest in search of shelter.


	3. Too Hot

Sure enough, just as Theo had remembered Derek mentioning it, there was the small cabin, nestled by the side of a cliff, hidden away in a copse of trees. For being seldom used, it was remarkably well provisioned. There was a fireplace, with a small stack of logs piled nearby. A camping stove, and an ice chest, as well as a few first aid kits. There were chains in the corner, and against the far wall was a single cot, with a blanket folded neatly on top. The two boys stumbled into the small cabin and quickly closed the door behind them, grateful for the sanctuary from the violent gale outside. Theo knelt down in front of the hearth and proceeded to start a fire, while Liam just sat on the floor nearby and watched silently. A few minutes later and the chimaera had coaxed a roaring fire to life, warming the boys and casting a flickering orange glow around the interior of the cabin.

“Strip.” Theo said completely deadpan and looking at Liam. “What? No!” the beta said scowling. “Look our clothes will dry out a whole faster if we put them by the fire; and I’m not watching you slip into hypothermia just because you wouldn’t take off your stupid clothes; so strip” the chimaera ordered. Liam watched as Theo slowly removed his shirt, and then followed suit. After taking off his shirt, Liam pulled off his shoes, turning them upside down to empty out the water, and placed them by the fire. Then he peeled off his soggy socks, wrung them out, and set those by his shoes. Lastly he pulled off his pants and handed them to similarly stripped down chimaera to be placed by the fire. “There, happy?” Liam growled

“What is your problem?!” Theo shouted, “What do you mean ‘what’s my problem’?” Liam jeered back. “The whole time I’ve been with you today you’ve barely said a word, and the few that have slipped out have mostly been complaints. It feels like I’m pulling teeth with you Liam, what’s wrong with you?!” the chimaera shot back. “Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine” the beta sneered defensively. “Yeah, you sure sound fine” Theo retorted. Liam just frowned and turned his back to Theo, reaching for the single blanket in the cabin.

There it was again, that smell. All of a sudden it dawned on him, and the chimaera started laughing. “What’s your problem, chucklefuck?” Liam snarled. Theo kept laughing, “Oh, man, wow, I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on that sooner” “Pick up on what?” Liam asked confused. “Your chemosignals? Have you noticed them lately?” Theo chuckled. Liam frowned “what are you talking about?” Theo stared at him, “at first I thought it was just anger, but it smelled different than that, more like frustration mixed with. . .well. . .” Theo trailed off. “Frustration mixed with what?!” Liam demanded. “Not that I really care, but seriously, when was the last time you got laid?” Theo asked smirking. “What?!” now Liam was really confused. “Uh, I don’t know, like before Hayden left I guess? What does that have to do with anything?” the beta questioned. “Man, that was like 9 months ago, that explains sooo much” the chimaera laughed. “Explains what?” Liam said more irritated this time. “You” Theo jeered at the beta, “you’re irritable, angry, constantly going off on people.” “So?” Liam asked. “So your wolf has a serious case of the blue-balls”, Theo replied “you can’t just ignore it like that”.

Liam didn’t want to admit it, but Theo had a point. “Tension is tension, whether it’s anger or sexual frustration, you have to take care of it otherwise your wolf will end up taking over to meet its needs” Theo remarked. “I’m not out of control, I’m perfectly fine” Liam said, “while I’d like to point out that I can hear your heartbeat so I know that you’re lying, I have another suggestion” Theo trailed off. “Listening” Liam muttered, arms folded over his chest. “Since you’ve been avoiding eye contact by staring at my abs for the last 15 minutes. . .” Theo said smugly watching the blush rise across the beta’s face, “I propose we play a little game; if you win, I’ll believe you that you’re fine, and I’ll drop the subject at hand and never bring it up again” the chimaera smirked. Liam just sat there staring at Theo. “Don’t you want to know what happens if you lose?” Theo teased, “I won’t lose.” Liam said defiantly. “Rules are simple” Theo replied, “we kiss” “Eww” Liam interrupted, “and we don’t stop kissing until one of us breaks the kiss or touches the other person” Theo said coyly. “I’m not gay!” Liam said defensively, “Didn’t say you were” Theo replied nonchalantly, “it’s only a kiss little wolf” the chimaera smirked.  Liam sat there staring at Theo, this was _Theo_ he thought to himself, this would be an easy win; and hey, maybe Derek stashed some wolfsbane somewhere in the cabin so he could burn his mouth out when it was over.

Liam looked up at Theo, his competitiveness manifesting into twisted smirk, “alright, I’ll play your game, but get ready to lose!” the beta declared. The two boys moved so that they were sitting facing each other on the floor, right in front of the fireplace. As Liam leaned in, Theo interjected “oh, by the way, the winner gets to do whatever they want to the loser” he said with a devious grin. “Well I hope you like getting your jaw broken then, because I am so winning this!” Liam finished. Liam looked into Theo’s eyes and slowly drew nearer, until their lips were just mere millimeters apart. Closing his eyes he pressed his mouth to the chimaera’s. Theo kept his eyes open, and began to slowly suck on the beta’s lower lip, teasing at it gently with his teeth. Minutes passed, and Liam’s mind began to wander, as Theo’s tongue began to slowly slide into his mouth. “How is Theo a better kisser than Hayden” he quietly thought to himself, as the kiss continued on. 30 minutes now, neither boy had moved a hand on the other. As Liam sat there, eyes closed and still locked in a kiss with Theo, memories and dreams slowly began trickling in. First memories of kissing Hayden, then slowly to the dreams he had tried so hard to forget. Those dreams from Devenford Prep, of Brett walking out of the shower in the locker room, of Liam kneeling down and slowly kissing his way up Brett’s body, starting with his abs, wow those abs, moving up to his chest, and then his neck, and then. . . Liam jolted up, as if he had been suddenly woken up from a deep sleep. Acting more out of instinct than reason, Liam immediately slammed his fist into Theo’s nose, sending the chimaera sprawling to the floor.

“Guess I won” Theo muttered as he brought his hand up to his face, trying to set his broken nose. “That. . .that didn’t count!” Liam protested. “Rules are rules” Theo replied, “if you really were alright, you would have had enough control of your emotions to avoid touching me. Instead, you let your wolf get the better of you” Liam knew Theo was right. “Still think I’m wrong?” Theo said sitting back up and smirking. Liam sat there, feeling defeated. He looked over at Theo with a look of worry on his face, “So how do we fix me?” he asked. “I’ve got a few ideas” Theo chuckled knowingly and leaned over to whisper something in the young beta's ear.


	4. "You Want to do What?"

“So you’re not going to make do the chicken dance in the rain?” Liam asked, “nope” the chimaera replied. “and you’re not going to make me ride in the back of the truck on the way home?”, “also no” Theo reassured. “So what do you want?” the beta inquired with a look of confusion across his face. If Liam had won, he had a whole list of embarrassing things he would have made the older boy do (that or just punch him the face, damn that felt good sometimes).

“you have to share the cot with me” Theo said, “wait, that’s it, just ‘share the cot’? why not just take it for yourself?” the beta replied. “because you’re already grumpy enough and I don’t want to hear you complain about not having a real bed all night long. I’m also sure as hell not sleeping on the floor, so all I want is to share the cot” he finished.  Liam stared at Theo, a look of gratitude, but also suspicion lingered in his eyes, “okay, I think I can do that” he said. “Also, you have to be the little spoon” Theo added. “What?” Liam exclaimed. “I don’t want that prodding me in the back all night” he joked, gesturing down to the bulge the beta still had after their previous “game”. Liam looked down at the ground embarrassed. “hey now, don’t feel bad lil’ pup!” the chimaera teased, resting a hand on Liam’s shoulder, “ I think you’re the first person to last that long kissing me” he finished with a wink. “Whatever” Liam said, half annoyed, half still unsure about what he was feeling inside.

“C’mon, it’s getting late, let’s try to get some sleep” Theo said patting the spot next to him on the tiny cot. Liam slowly walked over, his feet softly plopping against the floor of the cabin and proceeded to lie down next to Theo. They both sat there for a few minutes, staring up at the dim shadows the dancing flames cast on the ceiling. The older boy then turned over to face Liam’s back, and placed his arm under Liam’s and draped it around the beta’s chest pulling him in close. “sleep tight, little wolf!” he mumbled softly and smirked as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is so short, I've got like 3 fics I'm working on right now (already have the next 2 chapters of this one outlined, fingers crossed I might finish some of them this weekend). Thanks for all the support, and I'm glad you guys are liking the fic so far! Always feel free to leave a comment or suggestion, I love the feedback!


	5. I Want Your Bite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo helps Liam finally give in to his wolf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning this one gets pretty steamy.

Liam couldn’t sleep. Laying there in the calming embrace of Theo, he could feel his wolf relax slightly; but while the beast within may have felt a moment of zen, Liam’s human brain was racing. Replaying over and over what had happened earlier that night. Kissing Theo felt incredible, but decidedly different from what he felt when he had kissed Hayden. With Hayden the kisses were soft, and sweet. Liam liked seeing how happy she was caught up in their innocent embrace. But with Theo. . .that feeling was entirely different from anything he had experienced before. His sex dream about Brett aside, Liam had never really felt any sexual attraction towards guys before. In that half hour he had spent kissing Theo, it took every bit of strength he had to keep his wolf from overtaking him (something that never happened when he was kissing Hayden). What made it more confusing for the beta was that ordinarily Theo was a calming influence on him. He had stopped him from killing Gabe and also Nolan; and a few weeks ago Liam was having trouble pulling his claws back in and all it took was a hand on his shoulder from the usually haphephobic chimaera to pull him back in.

“Oh my god, can you do anything quietly?! I can hear you think, and you reek of anxiety!” Theo suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Liam’s thoughts. “Sorry, I can’t help it. I-I’ve got a lot on my mind” Liam stammered. “Obviously” Theo said rolling his eyes, “feel like telling me what’s going on?” he finished sitting up on the cot. Liam didn’t know what to say, he had his thoughts, but he couldn’t translate them into words, like they were more animal than human. Colors, smells, impulses, sensations; how could he possibly expect Theo to have any idea of the hurricane that was raging inside his head right now? “Theo. . .it’s just that. . .it’s that I. ..” Liam sputtered, “Well?” Theo said. Liam couldn’t look at him, he just kept his eyes focused across the darkness of the room (the fire have long since reduced itself to mere embers). “You know how you always seem to be able to calm me down, even when no one else can?” he started again, “Liam, I’m your anchor, it kinda comes with the job description” Theo chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood. Liam looked over at him, frustrated, “That’s . . . it’s not what. . .” he forced out, “Come on Liam, use your words, it’s okay” Theo assured him trying to calm the beta, he set his hand on Liam’s shoulder and looked at him in the eye “whatever it is, it’s okay, just tell m-”

Theo never got to finish his sentence. In an instant Liam had surged forward, lips and hands and body colliding into Theo’s. Liam’s wolf had woken up with him, and the smell of Theo all around him, coupled with the touch of the chimaera’s hand on his bare shoulder was too much. As if nature herself had an interest in what was going on in the small remote cabin, lightening flashed across the sky at the very moment Liam crashed into Theo, supplying the perfect simile for the sudden burst of tension within the beta. Liam was on top of Theo, hands pressing his shoulders down into the creaky cot frame, his tongue halfway down the chimaeras mouth, practically breathing air _through_ Theo. Liam felt it again inside of him, that feeling; raw, primal, pure. A stranger walking in on the sight of the two of them might be forgiven for thinking that the younger boy was trying to eat the older boy’s face off. Liam felt his thoughts again slip from coherent words, to flashes of colors, to the smell of Theo, that intoxicating dark, woodsy musk that was driving his inner wolf insane. Liam nipped Theo’s lip, unintentionally, but the sudden taste of blood did little to restrain his animalistic desire for what was happening right now.

Theo was completely caught off guard. He knew Liam was a literal powder keg of sexual frustration waiting to go off, but he never would have expected this. This Liam was a much better kisser than the one that sat across from him earlier. Briefly Theo got caught up in the moment; he knew he shouldn’t take advantage of the young wolf, but this actually felt really good. Then he looked, he saw Liam’s eyes; what would his friend, his anchor, feel the next day. Ever since he had brought him back from hell, Theo had relied on Liam to be his moral compass. The Dread Doctors had manipulated him, forced him to kill his sister, broke him down and rebuilt him; and in the process had sacrificed his empathy, his _humanity_. With Liam he had finally found something, no, _someone_ who could make him feel something again, he didn’t know why, but he cared what Liam thought about him. Liam was his only friend, something he had never truly had before; and something he desperately didn’t want to lose (no matter how good this may feel in the moment). Internally cursing his new found conscience, Theo worked up the strength to push Liam up off of his chest. He watched as Liam, panted out of breath, and cocked his head to the side staring at the chimaera. “Didn’t know you were up for round two?” Theo attempted to joke. Liam suddenly looked at him, as if for the first time, “Theo, I – I didn’t mean, I mean if you don’t want-”. Theo shushed him, “It’s alright baby wolf, I just want to make sure this is really what _you_ want.” Liam sat back and sighed, “I just, I’ve never felt anything like that, it was like everything was rushing all at once, like I was feeling every emotion go off at the same time, but also waves of warmth and electricity running everywhere” Liam rambled. “That sounds like your wolf found something it wants” Theo said, lip curling up in a smile. Liam nodded. “I’m not going to say I told you so, but. . .” Theo trailed off. “Shut up” Liam said, give the other boy a gentle shove to the shoulders, “Up for round three?” the beta whispered voice full of lust. “Only if you’re sure this is what _you_ want” Theo replied, “I don’t want this to makes things weird between us; especially with how concerned the rest of the pack is about you” he finished. Liam got back on top of the older boy, nipping at Theo’s ear lobe he breathed into his ear “I don’t want your concern, I want your bite!”, and with that proceeded to resume his rough, but passionate kissing down Theo’s neck.

Theo smiled to himself, this was going to be fun he thought. “Liam.” The beta ignored him, “Liam!” he said again, “mmm, yes?” Liam replied hungrily. “Liam, the whole reason we’re at this point is because you lost control, so if we are going to fix you, if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this _my_ way” Theo growled into Liam’s ear. Liam just sort of purred into Theo’s neck, “mmmkay” and kept nosing the chimaera. “alright, close your eyes and lay on your back!” Theo commanded. Liam reluctantly pulled himself off of Theo and did as he was told. “I can help you control your wolf” Theo planted a kiss on Liam’s chest “but only if you let me” Theo planted another kiss, this time on Liam’s right nipple. Liam squirmed as Theo worked his tongue around the sensitive spot on the boy’s smooth toned body. “You don’t get to move until I say so” Theo said, switching his kiss to the opposite nipple this time with more forcefulness, “you don’t get to kiss back until I say so,” Theo moving his kisses slowly up Liam’s body just below his neck, “you don’t get to open your eyes until _I_ say so”, Theo continued kissing Liam’s collarbone, “and you certainly don’t get to come, until _I_ let you” Theo finished, his kiss on the boys neck turning into more of a bite. Liam yelped in pleasure. Theo began working his kisses down Liam’s body again, going over the same spots as before, but again, with more force, sucking and biting, and doing things Liam never even thought possible with his tongue. By the time Theo had made it to Liam’s bellybutton it was taking everything the young beta had not to throw the chimaera against the wall and finished what he had started, but instead he dug his claws into the side of the cot, as if clinging on for dear life, and bit down on his lip (enough to draw blood) letting a high pitched whine escape his body. “Tsk tsk, you’ll have to do better than that if you want to get your reward baby wolf” Theo teased releasing a deep, warm breath all over Liam’s length. All Liam could do was restrain his hips from bucking up into Theo’s face and let out what Theo could only loosely interpret as “angghhhh, please. . . I can...” Theo chuckled, “good little wolf.” Theo now had his face directly above Liam’s painfully throbbing cock, he almost poked his eye out, and had his two arms in a position to keep Liam’s legs and lower body pinned to the cot. Hovering for a moment over the tip of Liam’s penis, Theo opened his jaws wide and slowly lowered himself so that Liam was in the center of mouth, yet not touching any part of him; and breathed out a slow, humid, warm breath that seemed to last forever over the poor boy. Liam moaned in tortuous pleasure, barely able to control himself. Satisfied at the reaction he elicited from the other boy Theo began to touch only a single small spot, on the bottom just below the base of the head, with only the tip of his tongue. “T-t-heo. . . .please!!” begged Liam. Theo just smiled and proceeded to take just the tip of Liam between his lips, keeping up with the circles with his tongue. “Fuck, Thheooooo” Liam moaned. Theo brought out his fangs, and just barely grazed the edge of Liam’s cock, producing a scream of agonizing pleasure from the beta. “Theo, I can’t” Liam squealed, “come for me baby wolf” Theo ordered, voice dripping with lust. With that Theo went back to sucking only on the tip of Liam’s cock, practicing his unholy arts upon the most sensitive parts of the boy using only his tongue. Liam couldn’t take it anymore, the pleasure was too intense, and he bucked, send his cock sliding into Theo’s throat. Pulling back slightly, Liam filled the chimaera’s mouth with torrents of hot sticky beta juice. Once. Twice. Three times Liam came before his hips finally collapsed into the cot with a moan he was pretty sure the entire Beacon Hills preserve could have made out. Theo for his part swallowed most of what Liam had given him, but not all. Bringing himself back up, face to face with Liam, he hungrily teased at his lips, before allowing their tongues to slip together and share the product of their lust. It was the most alive either boy had felt in months.

They both laid there on the cot, in the afterglow of their embrace, neither saying a word. Liam finally had sated his wolf, and collapsing into a deep sleep left any thoughts of trying to understand what just happened for tomorrow-Liam to process.


	6. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam deals with the morning after his first night with Theo.

Liam had remained blissfully asleep throughout the night and well into the morning hours. By now the light of dawn was more than pooling around the small cot through the cabin window. In fact it had been the best sleep the beta had gotten in months.

Liam gently rolled over and tugged at the blanket that was lazily draped over his bare chest. Suddenly his wolf stirred. Something wasn’t right.  With his eyes not yet opened, he felt around the cot. Theo’s scent was still all around him, but his hands came up empty. Bolting up, Liam looked over to see he was all alone on the small cot. A quick glance around the small one-room cabin confirmed the chimaera was nowhere in sight; and his clothes were missing from their place beside the hearth. Liam panicked; he felt his heart pounding in his chest. “Did Theo just abandon me here?” “What if he went outside and the hunters had taken him?” his mind raced. Bolting up, Liam ran towards the door of the cabin, searching for any sign of the other boy. “Theo!” Liam called out, right as the door opened.

“What?” Theo replied, somewhat surprised, as he walked into the cabin with an armful of logs in tow. “You’re alright!” Liam quickly exclaimed, “I woke up and you were gone, I thought you had left” he said more quietly this time. “Yeah I did leave, we needed more wood” Theo stated.

Liam cocked his head a bit and looked at the chimaera, “It’s kind of hard to make breakfast without a fire” Theo finished a note of sarcasm in his voice. “Oh” Liam replied. Theo started smirking and once more the confused look returned to the beta’s face.

“I’m glad you’re happy to see me. . . .” he trailed off making a hand gesture towards the younger boy’s waist, “but your clothes finally dried out, so anytime you feel like wearing pants again; be my guest” Theo chuckled.

Liam glanced down. In the sudden panic of waking up alone, he had sort of forgotten he wasn’t wearing anything under the blanket (which had been strewn to the cabin floor when he had rushed to find the older boy). A sudden blush immediately covered his face and he immediately went to cover himself with his hands. “Clothes are over there near the cot” Theo gestured, still smiling. Liam quietly mouthed a “thank you” and quickly shuffled over to the folded clothes beside the tiny cot.

Theo got to work resurrecting the fire, while Liam busied himself getting dressed. Liam sat there watching Theo work silently, as he quickly pulled his pants on. His clothes were pretty stiff and smelled of smoke from being next to the fire; but at least they were dry now he winced as he pulled on a crunchy sock. Looking over he watched as Theo had begun to make a pot of coffee using a camp kettle over the fire.

The chimaera retrieved a cast iron frying pan and walked over to the ice chest and looked inside at the contents. For a remote cabin, Peter and Derek had kept this remarkably well stocked. Bending over he retrieved two pounds of bacon and a dozen eggs from inside ice chest and proceeded to head back to the hearth.

“Are you sure we have time to be doing this?” Liam asked “shouldn’t we be getting back?” he added

“What’s the hurry?” Theo replied coyly, “got somewhere better to be?”

“It’s just that. . .” Liam started

As if reading his thoughts Theo interrupted “Scott knows we’re out here, and besides it’s not like you have class or a lacrosse game today, it’s the weekend”

“Wait, Scott knows I’m out here. . .. with you? Did he plan this?!” Liam asked, anger starting to rise a little

“Relax little wolf, he had no idea you were here.” Theo replied “I told him you were helping me out with some hunters, and that we’d be back later today”

“Scott trusted you enough to leave me alone with just you?” Liam asked surprised

“Not exactly” Theo said rubbing the back of his neck “I sort of just texted him the details.” Liam kept looking at him, hanging on the pause at the end of that last statement. “. . . from your phone” the chimaera quickly added

“What?!” Liam asked stunned “How did you get into my phone?!” he asked incredulously

“Really Liam?” Theo said with a slight laugh. The beta just stared at him blankly. “Because you set the passcode as your lacrosse number, 0009, dumbass” he said rolling his eyes.

“Oh” was all Liam could get out. He honestly wasn’t sure if he was madder at Theo, or more impressed that the chimaera (that had never shown an interest in sports) somehow had paid enough attention to remember his lacrosse number.

“Now shut-up and tell me how you want your eggs” Theo said looking away from the other boy across the room. “But if I shut-up, how can I tell you how I wa-” Liam started to say “Fried it is” Theo cut him off.

About 10-15 minutes later the two boys were sitting on the floor next to each other near the fireplace, tin cups filled with dark hot coffee at their side, and plates filled with strips of bacon and fried eggs fresh from the frying pan. The cabin smelled delightful.

“So do you always make breakfast for people you have sex with, or am I just that special” Liam teased. “Only if they’ve been a . . . _really . . . good. . . . boy_ ” Theo purred back in a sultry tone with one eyebrow cocked, and a devious smirk plastered across his face. Liam almost choked on the piece of bacon he was chewing on at the comment from the older boy.

Theo then decided to change the subject. “How’s the wolf today?” he asked. Liam looked over, sensing his sincerity, and smiled “I feel a lot less tense.” “I can tell” Theo started, “you’ve made it a whole 5 minutes in the same room as me without trying to bite my head off” he added, half-joking. Liam just glared at him. “Seriously though Li, you look a lot more rested” Theo said changing tone again. “I honestly can’t remember the last time I slept like that” the beta confided in him, “thanks Theo”

 Theo set his coffee cup down and put his hand on Liam’s shoulder, “I’m your anchor Liam, I’m always here for you whenever you want me to be, alright?” he said looking the younger boy in the eyes, “Just try to listen to your wolf a little better, okay?” Theo added

Liam nodded and smiled, washing down his bite of egg with a quick gulp of coffee.

“Theo?” Liam asked

“Yeah?” he replied

“Can we _not_ tell Scott about. . .y’know. .. _everything_?” Liam looked at him with pleading eyes

“wouldn’t dream of it” Theo said reassuringly. Liam nodded appreciatively and smiled at the chimaera.

“Don’t worry, I can be your dirty little secret. . . .” Theo teased, and Liam started blushing before Theo added “. . .Baby Wolf”


	7. Not So Lone Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo returns Liam back in time for pack night; but holds to his original plans for the evening instead of joining the group. See chapter notes at the end.

Theo glanced over at the boy sitting next to him in the truck. It had been a long drive back to Beacon Hills and Liam was napping in the passenger seat, head leaning against the window, sunlight bringing out golden shimmers in his brown hair; the rhythmic hum of the road beneath the truck long having lulled the boy to sleep. Theo parked the truck just outside of the driveway to Liam’s house, and gave a shove to the snoring beta. “Hey wake-up sleepy-wolf!” he teased.

Liam stuttered awake blinking his eyes groggily. “Huh? Where are we?” he asked, still unsure of his surroundings. “We’re at your house Dumbar” Theo said, emphasizing the ‘m’. “Now come on and hurry out of my truck, puppy _really_ needs a bath” the chimaera motioned with his hand over his nose. Liam just rolled his eyes, and grabbed the bag he had left in the back and proceeded to open the door. “Hey, are you going to be at the pack meeting tonight?” Liam asked, looking back expectantly towards the older boy. “Wasn’t exactly on my schedule” Theo muttered. Liam just looked up at him completely bewildered, “Is it really that hard to believe that _I_ might actually have plans?” Theo said, “Ones that don’t involve murder?” the beta shot back “Yes Liam, plans that _don’t_ involve murder” Theo sighed dramatically.

Liam wasn’t sure why the thought of Theo having other plans bothered him so much. It almost felt like jealousy, but no wait, that didn’t make any sense; “why would I be jealous of _Theo_?” he thought to himself, internally shaking his head.

He was brought out of his head by the sight of Theo waving his hand back and forth, “You still with me?” the chimaera called out, “yeah, I guess I kind of dazed out for bit there” Liam said sheepishly. “Well I was trying to tell you to remember what we talked about; don’t ignore your wolf” Theo said, this time his tone was more one of compassionate concern. Liam looked back at him and nodded “I won’t” he replied back. “And, just remember you’ve got my number. If you ever need anything, or even just want someone to listen to you that isn’t Scott; I’m one phone-call or text message away” the chimaera offered. “Got it” the beta replied.

Theo started to turn away and fire up the truck before Liam added, “oh, and Theo?” “Yeah?” he replied back. “Thanks for everything back there” Liam said, with a slight grin. “No problem, the pleasure was mine little wolf” the chimaera shot back with a trademark smirk. Liam just shook his head in annoyance over the nickname and turned to walk towards his house.

Theo sent Scott a text message telling him that Liam was back home safe and sound, and that the little beta would be at the pack meeting later tonight. Scott replied back appreciatively thanking Theo for looking out for Liam. A few seconds later Scott was calling him, Theo answered “what’s up? Got another puppy problem?” he greeted the alpha sarcastically, “Theo I was thinking” Scott said ignoring him, “if you want to come to the pack meeting tonight, you’re more than welcome. I won’t pretend that everyone would be thrilled to see you, but you’ve really done a lot for the pack since you came back. It’s more of just a social night this time, but you’re welcome to come if you want” the alpha offered. “Thanks, but no thanks” Theo replied, “I’d say that I’d love to, but I’ve got other plans tonight” he finished, Scott paused for a minute, “Plans that _don’t_ involve murder, don’t worry!” Theo added, answering the unasked question. “alright, but if you change your mind. . .” Scott trailed off, “I won’t” Theo added before the call disconnected.

Theo slowly pulled his truck into the basement parking garage below the luxury apartment complex in downtown Beacon Hills, giving a polite wave to the parking attendant. As much as Theo didn’t want to admit it, he actually sort of looked forward to this night every week.

After the battle with the hunters, Beacon Hills had sort of settled down. At least, more settled than it was before the Anuk-Ite showed up. After his truck had gotten shot up by the hunters, Theo desperately needed someplace else to live/sleep in while he worked on repairing it. Even though he wasn’t technically a part of the pack, he certainly was turning out to be a useful ally. One meeting they had all tried to come up with a solution for the homeless chimaera. Stiles suggested he could spend the nights in a jail cell. Malia said he should go back to his sister. Scott had initially thought about letting Theo crash in the basement of the McCall house, but he knew his mom would never be able to sleep with Theo under the same roof. They needed to find someplace where Theo could stay, but also where they could keep an eye on him. This really only left one option.

Peter had bought the entire apartment complex, but kept the penthouse for himself. It had plenty of space, and four separate bedrooms, in addition to all of the other amenities. It was actually Derek who suggested the idea of Theo staying with himself and Peter; only he didn’t exactly ask his uncle beforehand. Derek led Theo from the elevator and into the penthouse, his few belongings in tow. “Peter, we have a guest” Derek said matter-of-factly; “What?!” the older werewolf said in a mixture of shock and irritation “I’ve already taken in one of your strays, _and_ I’m letting you stay here free of charge!” “Theo stays” Derek said sternly. “Fine!” Peter said, “but it’s _my_ penthouse, and I’m not turning my study into another guest bedroom, so he is going to have share a room with one of you” he added pointing between Derek and the other occupant in the room. Theo looked to see Derek and Deucalion frowning at each other from across the room. “He’s not staying in my room” Derek said, folding his arms across his chest. “Guess we’ll just have to settle this like adults” the demon wolf said slyly. Theo’s eyes widened fully expecting the two wolves to break out into a duel. Instead they walked towards each other and each held out one hand, “best two out of three?” Derek asked “get ready to lose” Deucalion replied smugly. Theo just watched, confused. They were deciding where he was going to sleep by playing _rock-paper-scissors_?!

An hour had passed, and the two were still going at it. “Best 99 out of 100?” Derek pleaded. “If I agree to share my room with him, can we put an end to this pointless game?” Deucalion sighed. Derek nodded. “So it’s settled then, looks like we’re roommates” the older alpha mused, looking over to the chimaera. Theo groaned, “just don’t try to push any of that Mr. Miyagi non-violence crap” “don’t worry, when it comes to keeping you in-line, non-violence most certainly won’t be an issue” Deucalion smirked. They then proceeded to get Theo set-up. Two beds, each on opposite sides of the room, and a line of mountain ash painted right down the center to separate the two inhabitants (with only a slight break near the entrance of the room).

That was all months ago, and now the four almost got along. Well they got along well enough that on Saturday’s they ordered take-out and sat around playing cards until the sun came up.

Theo walked through the door to the penthouse. Derek, Peter, and Deucalion were all sitting around the table waiting on the chimaera. “You look like hell” Peter stated “pun intended of course”. “I was out last night at the preserve helping Liam look for some hunters, we got caught in the storm and stayed the night in one your cabins” Theo explained, “Well go take a shower, and then hurry up, the Chinese food is starting to get cold” Peter ordered. “Oh by the way, you know that cabin out near access road #34?” Theo commented, “What about it?” Peter asked suspiciously, “You’re out 2lbs of bacon, a dozen eggs, and all the coffee” Theo added quickly. “You went through all that? Do you people think I’m running a half-way house charity or something?!” Peter exclaimed. “Hey, I pay my rent on time!” Theo retorted, “though if you think about it, you’ve got a demon wolf that’s collecting disability checks each month because the state still thinks he’s blind, a former alpha that’s a wanted fugitive, and a chimaera most people don’t want or trust, all living under the same roof; charity isn’t all that inaccurate of a description” he snarked. Peter shook his head “I need a drink” he muttered.

Theo always cleaned up well; after a quick shower and change of clothes, the chimaera was back out in the main room and eagerly devouring the contents of the take out-box in front of him, while also doing his best win back some of the money he lost to Deucalion last week. Derek had just finished dealing the latest round of cards out when all of sudden there was a loud THWACK from the other side of the table. Peter gripped his hand after dropping the cards he had been holding to the floor, the top of his knuckles visibly red and sore after receiving a blow from Deucalion’s cane. “Ow! What was that for?” Peter shouted.  “You’re cheating” the older wolf accused, “Yeah, but you’re _still_ winning!” Peter attempted to retort. Derek and Theo glanced under the table to the cards that had scattered on the floor. Theo counted 3 Queens of Hearts and two 7’s of the same suit. “Really Peter?” Derek chided. “They’re _my_ cards after all” Peter tried to say defensively. “Are you guys missing the part where he’s still taking all our money?” Peter tried again. “Whatever” Derek said rolling his eyes, “just keep your hands above the table for the rest of the night”. Peter just grumbled something unintelligible under his breath.

“Theo” Derek said. “Theo!” he tried again. Theo was too busy looking at his phone. All of a sudden there was another THWACK as Deucalion brought his cane upside the back of the chimaera’s head. “Ow!” Theo winced “It’s your deal” Deucalion pointed out. “Alright, just give me a sec” he replied. “Girl trouble?” Peter prompted “What?” Theo looked back confused. “You’ve been looking at your phone the whole night” Derek interjected, “Which means it’s either a girl, or you’re selling drugs, in which case you need to seriously up your rent contribution” Peter added. “No, it’s not that. I was just seeing if Liam texted me” Theo said. “So it’s _boy_ trouble then?” Peter jeered. “No, asshole!” Theo snarled back “just shut-up and take your stupid cards” he added while beginning to deal. Deucalion was the only one to notice the change in the chimaera’s heartbeat at Peter’s comment. “Interesting” he thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know this one is a little light on the Thiam content, but I wanted to focus a bit more on Theo. Next chapter will have a lot more of Theo&Liam! 
> 
> (Chapter 8 is also tentatively titled "If You Give A Wolf A Blowjob", so yeah, enjoy that 


	8. If You Give A Wolf A Blowjob. . ..

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Liam has a hard luck case of puppy performance issue. Can a certain chimaera help a poor beta out?

Liam lay awake in his bed, face buried in his pillow, lacrosse jersey thrown haphazardly on the floor. He reached over for his phone and looked at the screen, Saturday 2:30AM. He half-heartedly tossed the device into the pile of mixed laundry near his dresser that his mother jokingly referred to as his “floordrobe”; he groaned as it landed with a soft thud. This had been quite possibly the most embarrassing night of his entire life. He almost wished the Wild Hunt would come back and take him away just so he wouldn’t have to face the other students come Monday morning.

It had been a perfectly normal Friday night. In fact, it had actually started out as a _really_ great Friday night. Liam had been excited for this night all week, as it was one of the last lacrosse parties of the year. Mason’s parents were gone until next week (providing the perfect venue), and Gabe had managed to secure enough alcohol to test the limits of even werewolf tolerance. They even hired a DJ. In short, Liam was really looking forward to having a great Friday night out with his friends and teammates, and maybe even letting off a little steam. The event, like most of the other lacrosse parties, was invitation only. All the members of the lacrosse team were automatically invited, as well as the entire Beacon Hills cheerleading squad.

Liam had been having a great time. Mason and Corey were there, all of his lacrosse friends were there, the music was just right; everyone was enjoying themselves. Katherine, the head of the cheerleading squad had been dancing on Liam most of the night. She was an attractive girl, painfully aware of the effect she had on most of the guys at Beacon Hills (and some of the girls). She was smart, pretty, and ambitious; and she _always_ got what she wanted, and right now what she wanted was the captain of the lacrosse team.

It didn’t take all that much prodding for her to eventually lead the handsome young beta upstairs and away from the party (earning him a thumbs-up from Mason and Corey across the room).

Closing the door behind them Katherine led the young beta across the dark, empty room, positioning Liam between herself and the bed. “Is. . .uh is there. . .something that you uh. .wanted to--” Liam stammered, eyes wide at the girl in front of him. Katherine interrupted Liam by bringing a freshly licked forefinger from her right hand up to his lips, shushing him. “I was thinking. . .” she trailed off, lowering her hand to tug slightly at Liam’s shirt, while running her left hand up from underneath, fingernails grazing gently across his abs. “I’ve watched you play out there all year” she said, “You. .. you watched _me_?” Liam said as he gasped “mmmmhmm” Katherine replied biting her lower lip and moving her left hand from his abs to the right side of his upper chest.

“You are _really_ good” she said moving closer, “you’re fast, and strong, and hot, and you’re great with a stick” she continued, voice laden with lust.

Liam wasn’t all that great at reading body language, but he thought he had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen. This night couldn’t possibly get any better he thought to himself. He tried to speak, but he once again found himself shushed by the cheer captain’s seductive finger on his lips. “I was wondering. . .” she trailed off again; “if you’re that good when you get _on_ the field; then I wonder how good you are when you . . . get _off_?” she breathed that last word into his ear practically causing Liam to moan in arousal. She then shoved Liam’s chest, sending him from where he was to being on his back on top of the mattress behind him. With a single movement of her hands Katherine was able to disrobe, skirt and shirt sending both garments falling to the floor in an instant. “oops!” she giggled while grinning at Liam. “I know you’re not with that weird Hayden bitch anymore, so do you wanna see what being with a _real_ girl is like?” She said cocking her one eye, and proceeding to straddle Liam, wrapping her legs around the small of his back while running her hands through his hair. “Would you like that?” she again breathed into the boy’s ear, eliciting a soft whine of affirmation from him. She then leaned in, placing her hands on the back of his neck and pulling him in for a less-than-innocent kiss; while he ran his hand up her back, fiddling to try to undo the meager undergarments she still had on.

Nearly an hour later and the two adolescents were still kissing, lips sore from the constant sucking and biting, cheeks flush, and sweat covering both their bodies. Liam had even tried flipping the girl over, pinning her beneath his body to the mattress. He moved his mouth down her neck, nipping near her shoulder (like Theo had done), but inadvertently he suddenly let out a growl. “Oh, come on Liam! I like a little rough foreplay as much as the next girl, but this girl has needs” she said almost pleading with the boy on top of her. Liam scrunched up his face. He didn’t mean to growl, it’s just that something inside of him reacted to her scent when he nosed the side of her neck. She smelled. . .. she smelled _wrong_. It wasn’t that she smelled bad, Liam couldn’t put his finger on it; just that on the inside he knew her smell just felt wrong, and it made his wolf unhappy.

Katherine rolled Liam back over, resuming her position on top, and started to unzip the boy’s jeans, moving her mouth slowly down his chest, planting soft kisses along the way. As she pulled off the jeans and started for his boxers she looked up at him confused. “What the fuck Dunbar?!” she said more than a little angrily. “W-what? Did I do something wrong?” the beta said a little startled. “Do you not think I’m attractive?” Katherine accused, “No I do, I mean yes I think you’re pretty much the hottest girl in Beacon Hills!” Liam barely got out. “Then why the hell aren’t you hard?! We’ve been kissing and rubbing against each other for over an hour!” she shouted back. “I-uh. . I uh” Liam tried, but Katherine was having none of that, “Fine let’s try this one more time” she said determinedly. As the girl brought herself back down onto Liam, she once more re-united their lips; only to be once again greeted by Liam’s wolf letting slip a growl completely against the poor boy’s will.

“That’s it, we’re done here!” Katherine said, throwing on some of her clothes and stomping loudly out of the room, “You’re a freak Dunbar, Hayden was right to leave you!” she added loudly as she stormed down the stairs. “Wait, Katherine, I swear I just I had too much to drink that’s all! We can try again?” poor Liam tried one last time.  Liam tried chasing her out of the bedroom and down the stairs wearing only his pants, his shoes and jersey clutched tightly in his hands.

“Ughh, why is it _so_ hard to find a straight lacrosse player in this town?!” Katherine lamented loudly as she made her way through the crowded party on the first floor. A few of the kids in the crowd started laughing, shouting something about “whiskey dick Dunbar!”, and Liam practically ran out of the back of Mason’s house (still clad solely in his pants) towards his home, with tears of embarrassment starting to run down his cheeks.

Now here he was, lying on his bed in his own home, letting his pillow absorb his tears; desperately wishing the whole night was just one big nightmare he was going to wake up from any minute now. “What did his stupid wolf know anyway?! Why did he always pick the worst times to make himself known?” Liam sobbed angrily to himself.

Liam didn’t know how long he sat there, face down on the bed. Eventually the tears had dried into the fabric case of his pillow, and the burning anger had turned to more of slightly subdued despair. Liam pushed himself up and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. Rubbing the dried tears from his eyes, he walked over to where he had thrown his phone earlier. Liam picked up his phone again, and walking back slowly, once again fell back onto his bed.

Rolling over on his back, he held it up to his face, went into his contacts and pulled up Theo, before shooting him a very quick “hey, you up?” message.

Theo Raeken: “Just left work, everything ok?” 2:50AM

Liam Dunbar: “Can we talk?” 2:51AM

Theo Raeken: “Something happen I should know about?” 2:54AM

Liam Dunbar: “Sort of” 2:55AM

Theo Raeken: “Something happen you don’t want _Scott_ to know about?” 2:57AM

Liam Dunbar: “Can you pick me up at my place in 10? I just really need to talk” 3:00AM

Theo Raeken: “Be there in 5” 3:01AM

Liam just stayed on the bed, lying on there on his back and staring up at the ceiling. He kept his phone screen down, clasped under his two hands, on the center of his bare chest; the device rising and falling with each breath the boy took.

Theo was drying a pint glass with a rag when he felt a sudden vibration in his back pocket. Setting the glass down he pulled out his phone; his heart skipped a beat when he saw Liam’s name flash across the screen. He sent a few quick replies back, before finishing with the glass and then looking over for his boss.

“Hey, Marty, can I take off early tonight?” he called out across the nearly empty club from the bar.

An older man who was cleaning off some of the tables in the booths in the wall looked over, “What, girl trouble _again_?” he called back

“Something like that” Theo trailed off in a half-lie

“Ah, youth!” the older man sighed wistfully “It’s pretty light tonight, so I think I can close up myself. Go on, get out of here before I change my mind” he barked back

Theo mouthed a quick “thank you” and headed out of the club towards where his truck was parked in the lot outside.

Theo wasn’t exactly sure when Liam had gone from being the “angry-little-beta-that-talked-too-much-and-thought-too-little”, to being his anchor, to now being the little wolf he would do anything to protect. It certainly wasn’t when he pulled him back from hell; one of the first things he told the younger boy was how he was “going to kill all of you”. Perhaps it was the first time he saw Liam defend him in front of the others, when Malia started clawing at him. Old Theo would have clawed right back; but when he looked over to Liam something inside stopped him, gave him cause for restraint. Up until that night in the cabin Theo had chalked his thoughts regarding Liam to nothing more than their mutual anchor bond.

Even though Liam had given him consent, and Theo had legitimately been a great help to Liam; he couldn’t stop himself from feeling _guilty_ over it, like he had somehow taken advantage of the other boy in a moment of weakness. Theo knew that to Liam he was just another ally, one that would drop everything to help him, one that would fight with him, and one that would anchor him.

Theo didn’t understand where these feelings had suddenly come from, but they weren’t fair. They weren’t fair to Theo for taunting him with something he could never have. They weren’t fair to Liam for being something Theo knew the other boy would never want.

“Just go over and help Scott’s little beta, that’s all you have to do. Protect your anchor.” He said aloud trying to reassure himself while he turned the key over in the ignition. “Don’t mess this up T” he added.

Liam heard the truck pull outside his outside his house, precisely 5 minutes after Theo’s last text, exactly as the chimaera had promised. He threw on the first shirt he could grab the floor, his lacrosse jersey, and made his way down the stairs and out his front door.

Theo rolled down the window to the passenger side of his truck and unlocked the door. Liam grabbed the handle and flung himself inside the seat next to Theo.

“Hey” Theo offered

“Hey” Liam replied back

Theo looked over the distraught boy sitting next to him, smelling the distress; he tried to lighten the mood. “No shirt, no shoes, no service” Theo quoted.

“What?!” Liam exclaimed confused, “I’m wearing a shirt!” he gestured to his jersey

Theo merely glanced down towards the floor and cleared his throat with a loud “Ahem”

Liam looked down to see that he was still without his shoes. “Oh. . .I can run back inside?” he offered

“I wouldn’t have driven all the way out here at three in the morning if I really cared about your shoes Liam” Theo chuckled, “what’s going on that you couldn’t tell me on the phone?”

“Can we just drive for a little while?” Liam looked over, eyes pleading with desperation

“Alright, where to?” Theo asked

“Just drive” Liam stated, folding his arms across his chest

And just like that, Theo started off.

\-------

It felt like hours had passed, Liam stared out the window watching the city fade away into the country road Theo had taken them to, heading out towards the preserve. Nothing but a tense silence shared between the two boys throughout the whole ride. As they approached the “Now Leaving Beacon Hills” sign Theo turned the truck around and pulled over to the side of the road. Theo climbed out of the truck and started walking back towards town, a confused Liam opened his door and followed after him.

“Why’d you stop?” Liam protested

“Because it’s way past your curfew, and unless Scott taught you how to piss gasoline we need to turn around or we’re going to run of fuel” Theo replied mildly annoyed at this unplanned detour.

“Hmmpf” Liam muttered continuing to avoid eye contact, and sulking against the side of the truck with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Why are we out here Liam?” Theo asked, growing increasingly irritated at his passenger.

“I just needed some space” Liam grunted

“Space? You asked me to come pick you up at three AM because you needed ‘SPACE’ ?!” Theo said confused

“I had a bad night, okay?” Liam admitted

“Want to tell me about it?” Theo prompted

“Not really” Liam grunted

“Come on, talk to me! What’s wrong Li?” Theo pleaded

“It’s nothing” Liam denied

“It can’t be _nothing_ ” Theo corrected, “Come on, you’re clearly upset about something. Talk to me, use your big wolf words”

Liam’s face suddenly flashed red with anger as he turned to face the chimaera

“It’s all your fault!” Liam shouted

“What do you mean it’s all _my_ fault? What did I do?” Theo said defensively

“You broke it!” Liam accused

“What?”

“It doesn’t work, you broke it!”

“What doesn’t work?”

“you know. . . ‘it’ ”

“No, I don’t know ‘it’, Liam. What’s going on?” Theo said, now clearly quite irritated

Liam broke down, the tears returning to his face. “It wouldn’t work, I tried and I tried, and she made everybody laugh at me!” the beta cried

Theo looked over, feeling pain in his chest at seeing Liam so upset. His nostrils flared, he immediately wanted to inflict as much pain as scientifically possible on whoever had made his little wolf cry. He stepped forward, closing the gap between himself and the beta. Kneeling down he placed one hand on Liam’s shoulder. “What happened?” he said determined

“We were at the party, and everything was going great, and then she took me upstairs and we started to make out and then I growled .. ” Liam sobbed “I tried to control it, I tried my best, but but my wolf was so upset, she smelled so . . .so _wrong_!” he continued “then she called me a freak and told everybody I couldn’t get it up” he put his head down into his arms, tears still flowing.

Theo just stared down at young boy before him.

“wait. .. . so you called me all the way out here because you couldn’t get a boner and you think _I_ broke you dick? What, you've got puppy-performance-issues?” Theo laughed. He didn’t mean to laugh, but he couldn’t help himself

“it’s not funny Theo!” Liam growled

“You know Deaton probably has a little blue werewolf pill for that right?” Theo teased

“Asshole! I don’t know why I ever asked you for help in the first place!” Liam shouted angrily

Theo thought for a minute, trying his best to be helpful; “You said she ‘smelled _wrong_ ’? What does that mean?” he asked

“I don’t know, my wolf scented her and he really didn’t like how she smelled; like when you smell food that you don’t want to eat and all you want to do is throw up, like that, but it was _only_ my wolf, it wasn’t me!” Liam babbled trying to explain

“What _does_ your wolf like to smell?” Theo said, somewhat intrigued

“Well, the last time he was happy. .. . The last time he was calm. . . .” Liam trailed off

“Well?” Theo prompted

“The cabin” Liam admitted somewhat defeated

“Oh” Theo said stunned

“I don’t know why, but for some stupid reason my wolf likes how you smell; and Katherine didn’t smell anything like you, so he got upset” Liam said frowning

“Oh” Theo said again

As if for the first time, Liam noticed that Theo had placed his hand on his shoulder. All he wanted to do was shrug it off, but something inside him whimpered, and he leaned forward to sniff the chimaera’s arm.

Theo almost jumped back, but kept his hand in place, trying his best to calm the boy in front of him. “Liam?” he tried

“Mmmh?” Liam replied somewhat hazily

“Liam?” Theo tried again

“You smell so good!” Liam exclaimed

Theo gulped. This wasn’t happening. Not again. Liam was in the most vulnerable state he could possibly be in. What kind of anchor would he be if he let this go further? “Liam, snap out of it!” Theo said, but Liam was having none of that.

Liam stood up, pulling Theo up with him, and spun him around pinning the older boy to the side of the truck.

“Liam, I really think we should talk about this” Theo tried

“Mmmhhm, talk about what?” Liam muttered barely conscious

“talk about who’s really in control right now” Theo tried to reason with him; but Liam was fully in tune with his wolf, and nothing was going to break this moment.

Liam started to kiss down Theo’s neck, taking in his woodsy, spicy scent; and not so softly sucking on his collarbone. Liam had blocked out most of what Theo was saying at this point, finally feeling the rush of blood down below that he had so desperately craved earlier this evening. There was no way he was letting this go.

“Liam!” Theo shouted

“Yes?” the beta purred not looking up

“Liam, you’ve got to get this under control” Theo pleaded

“Then tell me how, teach me, _make me_ ” Liam teased, fully under the sway of his wolf. As the words left his mouth, Liam grabbed Theo’s hand and placed it over his now very much raging hard-on.

Theo couldn’t take it anymore. He knew he shouldn’t, but fuck Liam was doing things to him; making him feel things he knew he shouldn’t.

“Alright then _little wolf_ , you wanna play? Hmm?” Theo teased, using his other hand to move the beta’s chin so that their lips were touching.

All Liam did was moan an affirmation, and then plunge his tongue through the chimaera’s lips. The two were locked like that, teeth clashing, sucking on each other’s lips, biting; and constantly running their hands up and down one another and flipping the other one over, vying for the dominant position, until Theo had shoved the little beta into the passenger seat of the truck.

By this point Liam had shed his pants completely, as had Theo. The chimaera climbed on top of the beta (who was still wearing his lacrosse jersey), “fuck you smell amazing!” Theo panted, nose buried in the athletic apparel. “Not as good as you do” Liam moaned, hips thrusting into Theo’s abs, desperate for some sort of friction.

Theo growled a deep throaty growl, and Liam whimpered in response, his wolf submitting to the chimaera on top of him.

In that heat of the moment, Liam had lost all control. The little beta shot all over the chimaera and much of his truck.

“Tsk tsk tsk” Theo chided, “such a naughty boy” he glared down into Liam’s eyes. “You’re going to have to make that up to me” he teased.

Liam’s wolf begged him to continue, and so all he need was whimper in response to Theo’s challenge.

By this time Theo had moved over into the driver’s seat and flipped Liam so that the young boy was lying horizontally, across the cab.

Theo grabbed Liam by the back of his head and placed the younger boy’s face squarely in his crotch. “How’s that smell little wolf?” the chimaera teased

All Liam could do was moan in pleasure. His wolf was in ecstasy, taking in Theo’s musky scent; this was 1000 times stronger than anything he had scented before.

Liam needed no prodding from the older boy. He eagerly swiped his tongue along Theo’s head, trying his best to imitate what the chimaera had performed on him in the cabin.

“Fuck . . .Liam!” was all Theo could get out.

Despite being considerably attractive, Theo didn’t have all that much experience. That’s not to say he had no experience, it’s more that while often intense, it was often infrequent, meaning the chimaera didn’t always have the greatest stamina. Especially when it came to his little wolf.

“Who’s your alpha?” Theo groaned

“Sctttt” Liam tried, mouthful of Theo preventing coherent words from making their way out

“Try that again” Theo’s eyes flashed as he used his hand to push Liam further down his cock

“Sktttt.  .. .ggghhh” Liam almost gagged

“One more time!” Theo ordered

“Teooo!” Liam moaned as Theo slid into his throat.

At that moment Theo completely lost it. His little wolf calling him alpha, combined with the tight ring of muscles in his throat was more than enough to send him over the edge, pumping wave after wave of come down the beta’s throat. Liam eagerly swallowed, his wolf gobbling up every last drop, before finally pulling off.

The two boys sat in the cab of the truck trying to catch their breath in the afterglow of their rendezvous.

Liam looked up at Theo, and Theo back at Liam neither saying anything.

“I’m not gay” Liam finally said.

“So you’ve said” Theo replied

“We’re just, y’know, ‘wolves helping wolves, that’s all, right?” Liam asked

Theo’s heart sunk a little in his chest. If that was as close as he could get to Liam without ruining their bond, then at least it was better than nothing. “Yeah, I guess” the chimaera confirmed

“Cool” was all Liam said in return

“Hey Li?” Theo added

“Mmm?” Liam looked up from his position on the other side of the cab

“Would you maybe want to do some non-sex things sometime?” Theo asked nervously

Liam just looked at him

“You know, maybe if we spent more time around each other, maybe your wolf would be more calm and we wouldn’t have to . . . .you know. . .” Theo trailed off

“Okay” Liam replied

“Okay?” Theo asked again

“Sure” Liam confirmed, “What did you have in mind?”

“Well my roommates are out of town a few days next week, if you wanted to come over and watch like Netflix or something at my place?” Theo said nervously

“Wait, you have a ‘place’?” Liam looked confused

“Yes I have a place, what did you think I lived in an underground lair of caves and tunnels?” Theo asked incredulously

Liam shrugged innocently, “I guess”

Theo huffed

“But yeah, that sounds like fun” Liam smiled back.

“Great!” Theo replied, breathing a quiet sigh of relief.

”Oh, and Liam?”

”Yeah?” he looked over at the older boy

”I told you I didn’t break it” Theo smirked

 


	9. Wolflix and Chill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam takes Theo up on his offer to hang out together as friends for a night full of surprises, albeit not-so-smutty ones.

After Theo had dropped Liam back off at his house, he headed back to the one place in all of Beacon Hills he could call home. He drove his truck into the parking garage beneath the building, giving a quick wave to the 3rd shift parking attendant, before carefully pulling into his designated parking spot. Theo opted to take the stairs up to the penthouse rather than the elevator, trying to make as little noise as possible so as to avoid any sort of interrogation from his flat-mates.

Theo slowly opened the door to the penthouse as quietly as possible, and then with equal care closed it so that it barely made a click. He had taken his shoes off in the hallway before entering so that he could walk even more silently. He made his way to his shared room, and slowly turned the handle on the door, cracking it open barely ajar. Darkness. “Good” he thought, “Deucalion must be out or asleep” he internally breathed a sigh of relief before he continued opening the door, and then gently closed it behind him.

As soon his hand had finished turning the handle however, Theo heard the unmistakable “click-chunk” of the pull-chain switch on the table lamp that sat on the nightstand on Deucalion’s side of the room. The chimaera spun around to see the demon wolf staring at him, arms folded over his chest

“You were out late tonight” Deucalion observed

“What are you, my father?” Theo sassed

“If I were your father, I’d put wolfsbane in your coffee” Deucalion replied smugly

“If you were my father, I’d drink it!” Theo quipped back

“Someone’s been brushing up on his Churchill?” Deucalion mused somewhat impressed

Theo sat back on his bed and looked over to the pocket-sized book on 20th Century history facts sitting on his nightstand that he had picked up from the used bookstore down the street two weeks ago. “Yeah, I like him, he was a smartass like me” Theo answered

“I’m not sure I’d go so far as to label you a _smart_ -ass. . .” Deucalion corrected. Theo didn’t say anything, just started to gather some clean clothes from the closet on his side of the room.

The older wolf looked him over, noting the roughed up hair and small tears in his stained shirt. “Break up a fight tonight?” Deucalion inquired.

“Something like that” Theo non-answered, “you should have seen the _other_ guy” he added with a quick chuckle as he headed out of the room to go grab a shower.

Deucalion just shook his head. Theo was a master at covering his chemosignals; however what he couldn’t hide were the other wolf’s chemosignals that seemed to have completely drenched the chimera. He was glad Theo had taken his dirty clothes and thrown them in the wash room, as they reeked of lust; so much so that it had started to make the older wolf a bit nauseous.

Theo climbed into the spacious all glass walk-in shower in the common bathroom. Peter of course had his own private bathroom in the master bedroom, but that’s not to say the common one was any less luxurious. Theo had to give it to him, Peter did have a good sense of taste. Theo closed the door and turned on the water, turning the knob about halfway between the hottest setting and the mid-point. Theo loved taking hot showers, like _really_ hot showers. His muscles would relax from a long day of work or an intense fight, and he loved to let himself just get completely lost in the steam. Peter of course had some strong thoughts about this.

“It’s a shower, not a sauna!” he chided the chimera, “the constant humidity from all that steam is staring to make the paint peel” he added with a growl

“I like hot showers, okay?” Theo said defensively

“Yeah, well you also like to use half the water in Beacon Hills to take them” Peter scolded, “Seriously, _Malia_ takes shorter showers than you do; how is that even possible?!”

“She also took dust baths for a good portion of her childhood” Theo pointed out

Peter had walked away grumbling something about taking the extra water costs out Theo’s rent, but nothing ever came of it.

The steam had started to rise, and the hot water flowed over his head, running through his hair and creating rivers that flowed down his toned body. Theo took a few minutes to enjoy the sensation of the water, before he went down for his shampoo. The boy massaged the soapy liquid through his thick, wet hair; enjoying the slight tingling sensation, before rinsing it all out. Then he grabbed his favorite soap. Despite his constant nagging otherwise, in practice Peter was never one for frugality. The werewolf landlord insisted on only buying the finest, hand-made, artisan, cold-pressed soaps. The one Theo liked the best was fittingly enough called “werewolf”, the musky woodsy scent of the soap seemed to blend perfectly with his natural scent.

Theo basked in the steam and hot water of the shower, losing any and all concepts of time. His thoughts started to drift to what had happened earlier that night, of Liam’s lips on his mouth, and then on his cock. Theo bit his lower lip recalling the image of Liam’s innocent blue eyes looking up him while he had filled the boy’s mouth. Theo began to stroke himself to the images currently flooding his mind.

Suddenly Theo was jolted out of his steamy bliss by a sudden blast of ice cold water. The boy yelped and jumped out of the stream, and grabbed his towel while he hurriedly climbed out of the shower. Deucalion was standing by the sink with the water running so as to draw the hot water away from Theo’s shower, a smug look plastered across his face. “Hey, I was in the middle of my shower!” Theo protested.

Deucalion just frowned, “That’s not all you were in the middle of” he complained, “we have to use that shower too you know.” “The least you could do would be to clean out the drain one of these days” he added.

Theo’s eyes got wide and he tried to suppress the embarrassing blush that spread across his face, as he quickly lowered his head and made his way out of the bathroom, like a puppy with its tail tucked between its legs.

Deucalion just shook his head, “moments like these remind me why I _killed_ all of my betas” he sighed

 

Liam was relieved. By the Tuesday the Beacon Hills High gossip machine and long since moved on from any mention of his “incident” the previous Friday to other more recent things; things not involving him thankfully. This coming Friday night was one of the biggest lacrosse games of the year, and rumor was there would be college scouts in the stands looking for recruits for their programs. Fortunately, if there was one thing Liam was good about doing, it was channeling his anxiety into lacrosse practice (well, as long as it wasn’t _wolf_ anxiety at least). Ball after ball flew past the goalie and into the net at near light speed; he caught every pass, and blocked with a ferociousness that was just barely human enough to not arouse suspicion. Coach even said at one point “give me 10 Dunbar’s and I will conquer the world!” before he devolved into maniacal laughter and had some of the lower performing players start running laps.

Wednesday had turned into Thursday, which rolled into the day of the big game; Friday. Liam was still on-edge, but he was also a little excited. He had remembered that he had agreed to hang out with Theo tonight sometime after his game, and the thought of a quiet night with his anchor seemed to bring a welcome sense of calm to the little beta, especially compared to how his Friday night went last week.

Theo on the other hand was a nervous wreck. He had gotten the night off from his boss (no small feat given that Friday night was the busiest of the entire week). He also pretty much had the entire place to himself. Derek was off somewhere in Mexico with Argent, Peter was out “bonding” with Malia on a weekend road trip, and Deucalion had just gotten his check in the mail today (which meant he would probably be at the casino for a good while). It was a sign of the state of their strange relationship that Peter had trusted Theo with the keys to his penthouse while he was gone, as much as he had threatened to just let the chimera and the other wolf just “sleep out in the streets” for a few nights.  

He knew he shouldn’t have been nervous, this was Liam, and they had done things together a thousand times since he had pulled him back from hell. Somehow though, this felt different. They weren’t fighting a big bad. They weren’t tracking down rogue wolves or hunters. This wasn’t a big affair like a pack meeting. Tonight they were just spending time together, like normal teenagers, as friends. Then again, “normal” wasn’t exactly something Theo had a lot of experience with growing up with the Dread Doctors.

Theo got up off the edge of his bed and put his book back on his nightstand. Grabbing a clean set of clothes, he took a quick shower (well quick for Theo at least), and got dressed. The chimera looked down at his phone, 7:00PM. Liam’s game was about to start.

Any sense of calm Liam had earlier in the day had vanished as he got ready in the locker room. This was quite possibly going to be one of the toughest teams Beacon Hill’s had faced in a long time. This had been a pretty good season so far; of course their winning streak meant that they were now in league with much more difficult teams. This particular night they were facing an extremely well-to-do private school that had traveled 4 hours to get here. They had a nationally recognized lacrosse program, and judging from their height and build, each of their players looked like they should be in college rather than high school. Liam could already feel the aches that were sure to follow after clashing with these guys for a night. He looked around the room to his teammates, feeling sorry that Nolan didn’t have his werewolf-like healing. This was going to be rough.

It was the third quarter, meaning they were well into the second half of the game; Beacon Hills was down. A lot. A quick glance up at the board and coach had broken his second clipboard of the night. Home: 2 Away: 12

There was a quick time-out as a sickening SNAP was heard when a member of the away team had plowed into Corey, breaking his forearm to the point where the bone was sticking out. While his supernatural healing would eventually kick in, that would be impossible to explain how he was able to just walk-off an injury like that. Beacon Hills was almost out of players at this point. “Dunbar, get over here!” Coach shouted

The captain strolled across the field, “yeah coach?” he said out of breath

“What the hell is going on out there?!” he yelled

Liam had been forcing himself to restrain his wolf. It would be far too easy to give in, and he really didn’t want to literally rip the other team apart. He had almost lost it when he saw Corey get hurt; his claws puncturing his lacrosse gloves, and a quiet, low growl escaped his lips as he charged the offending player.

“Do we have anyone left?!” Coach asked frantically

Liam looked around “uh” he started

“What happened to that Kira girl? Now there was a girl who could play _lacrosse_!” Coach said looking through the stands to no avail

“Well, she uh. .” Liam started again

“Nevermind, **you’re** the captain; go find me someone to replace the kid that just broke his arm, otherwise we’ll have to forfeit, and I _never_ forfeit!!” Coach screamed at Liam again.

Liam had thought while he was playing that he had smelled something familiar, something that kept distracting his wolf enough for the beta to be able to keep himself under control. As he glanced around the stands, desperately looking for any of his classmates that might be able to step in, he noticed a familiar silhouette leaning in the shadows just barely under the bleachers.

“Give me 5 minutes coach!” Liam yelled back, taking off towards the stands. Coach then proceeded to walk onto the field and start yelling at the referee, trying to buy some time.

Liam ran up to the figure under the stands. He’d recognize that hair, that tight-fitting black shirt, those jeans that fit just a little _too_ perfectly, those unmistakable converse shoes, and that trademark smirk anywhere.

“Theo, what are you doing here?” Liam asked surprised, and a little out of breath.

Theo looked over at Liam; he noticed the sweat that had completely soaked his hair, dripping down his face in waves. Gone was the sporty scent of the beta’s body wash, replaced instead with the uniquely Liam scent the chimera had grown to recognize after being back-to-back in so many fights.

“Thought you could use the support” Theo offered.

Liam was a bit shocked, but any surprise was quickly replaced by yet another of the impulsive little beta’s not-well-thought-out plans.

“Right now what I need. . .” Liam trailed off as the idea hit him like a freight train.

Theo recognized that smirk. The smirk that showed up whenever Liam was about to rush headfirst into something, and more than likely drag him along for the ride.

Theo frowned, “what is it?” he asked hesitantly, but by this point Liam was already shouting the other direction, “Coach, I’ve got someone!” he yelled excitedly.

Theo looked at him completely confused and was about to ask another question before Liam cut him off.

“Quick, go change; in the locker room, last locker on the right there should be a clean jersey no one has used this season” Liam said quickly

“You expect me to play lacrosse?” Theo replied completely bewildered

“Well, Corey got his arm snapped in two, and if we don’t get another player out there, then we’ll forfeit, and this is like the most important game of the year for me” Liam looked up at him with those ocean blue puppy-dog eyes, “pleeassseee?” he pleaded

Theo rolled his eyes, unable to refuse the beta when he made that face. “Fine” he grumbled reluctantly, “but I don’t know how to play lacrosse” he started to protest

“Do you like hitting people?” Liam asked rhetorically

“Have you _met_ me?” Theo laughed

“Great, you’ll do fine. Just follow my lead, and bash anyone that tries to hurt me or get in my way!” Liam called back enthusiastically as he ran out onto the field.

Maybe this would be more fun than he thought, Theo mused internally to himself.

Theo pulled out the jersey and equipment from the unused locker. “At least he wasn’t lying about it being clean” he thought. He found of pair of practice cleats in his size, pulled on the number 95 jersey he found inside, and grabbed a mask, gloves, and stick from the other side of the room before strutting out of the room (though not before checking himself out in the mirror first).

“Who’s this?” coach started to yell to Liam, as the beta started before he cut him off again, “never mind, he’s a warm body on my lacrosse field. The game is back on!” he yelled. Theo just glared at Liam through his protective facemask. He couldn’t believe he was actually doing this. Following Liam out onto to the field, he suddenly heard a whistle blow and the next thing the chimera knew he was laying on the ground. This was going to be harder than he first thought.

It was halfway through the final quarter, and while despite being pretty terrible at lacrosse, Theo _was_ admittedly quite good at hitting people; especially people that were trying to hit Liam first. The two had just sort of fallen into a natural rhythm, just like during their fight at the hospital. An innocent bystander could be forgiven for thinking the whole thing was really just a masterful experiment in violent choreography. Liam would get the ball and charge down the field, Theo would follow around him, obliterating anyone that dared try to stop his little wolf. Score after score followed. At this point the coach was laughing maniacally, having given up on his clipboard and instead just shouting about how “THIS IS HOW YOU PLAY LACROSSE!! BWAHAHA!”

There were 30 seconds left on the clock, and the two teams were now tied. A quick whistle blow from the opposing team signaled a final time out. Theo followed Liam to the sidelines for a quick drink of water. Most of the few remaining players were too busy being in awe of the new player, and patting him on the back, to care much about who he was, or where he came from. Liam stood over where Corey was sitting, next to Nolan and Mason. “Is-is that Theo?” Corey asked really confused. “Maybe. .” Liam tried to not answer. “And you thought bringing ‘Theo-the-murderous-chimera-from-hell-Raeken’ to a lacrosse game was a good idea, because?” Mason protested. “He’s actually not that bad” Liam said. The other boys just looked at their captain with doubtful glances. “At lacrosse! I meant he’s not that bad at lacrosse!” Liam quickly added. “He’s still Theo” Mason tried to argue, “Liam does have a point though, we’re actually really close to winning” Nolan pointed out. The whistle sounded indicating that the break was over and the boys headed back out onto the field.

Just like a perfectly tuned engine, Theo and Liam continued their athletic dance across the field. Nolan passed the ball off to Liam. 15 seconds. Liam ran down the field. “Almost there” he thought to himself, body tense, and sweat pouring down his face. 8 seconds. One of the larger players from the other team bolted at Liam. 5 seconds. Theo’s eyes flashed and he perfectly intercepted the other player sending him sprawling on his back. 3 seconds. The crowds on both sides were completely silent, everyone unable to breathe with how close this game was. Liam lined up his shot and swung his stick, sending the ball flying through the air at an impossible speed. 1 second. With exactly half a second remaining on the clock the ball sailed past the other team’s goalie, colliding into the back of the net and giving Beacon Hill’s a single point lead. The game ended and the crowd in the stands erupted into a deafening roar.

The team members that were on the sidelines rushed out onto the field (along with many of the fans in the stands), and surrounded the team captain who scored the game winning shot.

Theo, being the broody introvert that he was, silently slunk off the field towards the locker where he had stashed his clothes. He smiled as he watched everyone celebrating and cheering on Liam, taking it all in as the beta beamed while he basked in the moment. Theo quietly dropped his stick, face mask, gloves and cleats off in their respective bins for cleaning, before gathering his things and walking back out towards his truck.

Everyone on the Beacon Hills lacrosse team was beyond exhilarated at how the game played out. Most of the team were heading over to Gabe’s to celebrate, but when Corey and Mason asked Liam if he was coming he just looked over in the direction of the parking lot and said cryptically “Nah, thanks guys, I’ve got a promise to keep tonight”. The other two boys were surprised, but were also more caught up in the raw emotion of the crowd to question it too much, throwing a simple “alright, see you Monday!” before heading off with the rest of them.

Liam stripped off his lacrosse gear and took a quick rinse in the locker room shower before gathering up his things and heading off to the parking lot. Theo was sitting there in his truck at the far end of the lot, just gazing off into the distance as Liam walked up to the passenger side. “You didn’t think I forgot, did you?” Liam asked smiling

“Forget about me? Pfff. Impossible.” Theo replied smugly

“Asshole” Liam muttered while climbing into the passenger seat and throwing his gear in the back.

“You okay if I pick-up some food on the way?” Theo looked over as he started the truck

“Uh, sure, yeah, I’m starved!” Liam said.

Theo, the clever chimera that he was, had already placed their orders before he even got to Liam’s game. So not a few seconds after he had entered, he was re-emerging from the Chipotle with two bags clutched in either hand.

“That was fast” Liam said surprised.

“It’s amazing how far a pretty face and a little murder will get you” Theo teased with a wink

Liam just shook his head as the older boy pulled out of the parking lot and headed the short distance remaining to Theo’s home.

“ _This_ is where _you_ live?!” Liam exclaimed, not believing his eyes

“Wait until you see the inside” Theo said with a grin.

The two boys climbed out of the truck and Theo put in the special key-card needed to get to the penthouse. As Theo opened the door Liam’s eyes grew wide with disbelief. “But . . . but how? . . . When? Who did you kill to live here? Wait, are you a drug dealer?!” Liam babbled.

Theo just laughed. “No Liam, I’m not a drug-dealer, and I didn’t murder anybody . . . for this place at least”

Liam stared at him blankly.

“Derek sort of pressured Peter into letting me crash here during the war, on account of my truck sort of getting shot-up by the hunters;  but I still have to give him a small amount for rent each month” Theo admitted.

“Wait, you live with _Peter_ and _Derek_?!” Liam asked again even more confused. “Do you have your own room?”

Theo looked over at Liam and laughed again, “Yes Liam, I have a room. I mean, I have half a room” he conceded

“Half a room?”

“I get one half, Deucalion gets the other” Theo answered started to grow a little annoyed at the beta’s game of 20 questions.

“Deuc-” Liam started before Theo cut him off. “Yes Liam, _that_ Deucalion. All four of us play cards every Saturday night, and that demon wolf somehow manages to keep taking all of my money”

“Oh” was all Liam could get out. Theo walked over and set the bags of food on the counter, before starting for the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower really quick, help yourself to anything you need” Theo said, “but remember, it’s also all Peter’s stuff so. . .” Liam nodded in understanding.

Barely 5 minutes later the chimera re-emerged from the shower, smelling fresh and clean, and donning his prior clothes. Liam had to give it to him, Theo sure cleaned up nice.

“You didn’t have to change on account of me, you know?” Liam said watching as Theo made his way over to the counter and the still warm food.

“I didn’t change for you” Theo said doing his best to look confused, “I was covered in sweat, those clothes smelled awful” he added

“You looked kind of cute in that jersey though” Liam teased

“Wait really?” Theo almost spun around

Liam just shook his head, “wow, you’re easy” he laughed

Theo suppressed the embarrassment that was starting to rise from his chest and just rolled his eyes and sat down at the counter and began to dig through the food, giving Liam his burrito, and taking his own out of the foil.

The boys practically inhaled their food. Liam would ask Theo questions in-between bites, and Theo would respond in kind, both dribbling food out of their mouths.

“So, you said you had a job?” Liam asked

“Yeah, I work the bar and sometimes help break up fights over at _Sinema_ ” Theo replied

“You work at _Sinema_?! And they let you work the bar?!” Liam asked, surprised, and also full of disbelief at the prospect of Theo working any kind of job in the service industry.

“Marty’s a good guy, says I look old enough, and besides working the bar gives the best tips.” Theo explained, “that and it tends to result in a lot fewer broken noses than when I was trying to hustle pool or cards at some of the other bars” he added

Liam chuckled at the thought of Theo getting in bar fights over a pool game.

“Want to watch something on Netflix?” Theo asked trying to keep the conversation going.

Liam looked over at him mouth full of burrito “Yff, tht sndsss grrratee”  he mumbled out

“There was this one World War II documentary I saw they just ad-” Theo started

“Nah, I’m not really in the mood for any history stuff tonight” Liam admitted. Theo silently thanked every deity he didn’t believe in for that. “Have you ever seen _Stranger Things_?” Liam asked.  Theo shook his head, indicating that he had not. “Ah, come on, it’s great you’d like it, here lemme put it on” Liam said excitedly as he grabbed the remainder of his dinner and rushed into the living room where the almost wall sized television was mounted. The two boys settled into the couch and finished their food while they started to make their way through the first episode.

To Theo’s credit, he did technically make it all the way through the first episode; but as Liam looked over and noticed the wide pupils and claws from the chimera’s right hand drawing blood from his left leg it occurred to him that a show where there was a secret lab where scientists conducted otherworldly experiments on a young child, might have hit a little too close to home for the poor chimera.

“Theo” Liam called out, while also trying to pry the older boy’s hand off his leg.

Theo suddenly shuddered a bit, as if he had been in a trance like that time in the morgue when they were fighting the Ghost Riders. “Huh, oh uh that was . . .” Theo started to trail off.

“In hindsight, probably not my best choice, we don’t have to watch anymore if you don’t want to” Liam broke in looking into Theo’s eyes. He watched as Theo breathed an immediate sigh of relief and whispered a soft “thanks”

Collecting their food trash, Liam stood up and walked towards the kitchen. “Want anything to drink?” Liam asked. “Uh, I’m fine, maybe water in a bit. Help yourself to whatever’s in the refrigerator” Theo offered, markedly calmer.

Liam opened the refrigerator and glanced over the strange assortment of food and beverage items that made up the inventory of the refrigerator of the four bachelors. “What’s a _Wulfsbier_?” Liam asked with a scrunched up face.

Theo bolted up, “Liam wait, don’t tou-” but right as the words were leaving his mouth, he heard the familiar hiss as the bottle opened.

Liam took a few gulps of the odd liquid. “It tastes like a regular beer, why would you guys have that. Werewolves can’t get drunk?” he said in confusion.

Theo sighed “because it’s _not_ just any beer.” Liam looked a little confused. “ _Wulfsbier_ is a special beer Peter buys that’s only made in one brewery in the entire world” he started

Liam was still confused, but continued drinking from the bottle.

“Someone somewhere figured out a way to crossbreed hops with wolfsbane. The flavor of the hops masks the taste of the poison, but the wolfsbane lets us feel the effects of the alcohol.” Theo explained

Liam threw the empty bottle in the recycling can by the side of the sink and let out a loud BURRRP!. “Cool!” He exclaimed. “Liam!” Theo shouted.

“What?” The beta looked back innocently.

“This isn’t some cheap high-school party watered down beer! _Wulfsbier_ is a full-fledged micro-brew IPA.” Theo said

“And that means?” Liam replied still confused

“It means, that you just drank an entire beer that was 11.5% ABV” Theo sighed putting his hand up to the bridge of his nose.

“Ooops” Liam giggled, clearly starting to feel the effects.

Theo gave up, if he was going to sit here and babysit a tipsy beta, he might as well have one himself. The chimera walked over to the refrigerator and pulled another two bottles out, handing one to Liam. “Here, might as well finish what we’ve started” he muttered. Liam smiled and the two sat back down on the couch.

After getting tipsy enough, Theo tried to impress Liam with some history facts he recalled from his book, but he kept messing up the names and dates, much to Liam’s amusement. “The only thing we have to fear, is a chicken in every pot!” Theo tried again. Liam started laughing, “how in the world you managed to mix President Hoover with FDR is beyond me” the beta said, practically rolling on the couch. Eventually Theo had given up and they moved on to other things.

2 hours, and many more bottles later the two boys had been going at Truth or Dare for a good while. “Truth or dare?” Theo slurred

“Troof” Liam smiled dumbly back. “Okay okay” Theo started “what was the moment you first thought of me as your friend?” the chimera barely got out

Liam sat there completely taken aback by the question “uh. . .we’re friends?” he said smiling

Theo gently shoved him in the side, “shut-up” he teased

“Uh, the fight at the hospital” Liam finally admitted, “with the Ghost Riders” he clarified. “I thought you were going to run off, and instead you risked your life to save me by pushing me in that elevator. That’s something only a real friend would do”. Liam quickly grabbed another bottle before allowing the chimera to respond “My turn!” he shouted. “Truth or dare?”

“Oh nuh!” Theo again badly slurred. “I think we shshould call it a night” he went to stand and was more than a little wobbly. Liam tried to do the same and almost fell over. Theo let Liam use his shoulder to steady himself as the two boys stumbled their way back to Theo’s room, trying their best not to trip over all of the empty bottles.

Liam flopped down on the mattress, and Theo did his best to undo his shoes, but ended up falling down due to his lack of balance at the moment (sending Liam into a fit of giggles). Eventually, the two boys had managed to remove every article of clothing with the exception of their boxers, scattering the pieces all over the room.

Liam rolled over on the bed and looked at Theo sitting on the floor. “One more!” he barely got out. Theo was going to say no, but then he saw those same ocean-blue puppy-dog eyes that had melted his resistance earlier in the evening. “Fine fine, ONE more” Theo said gesturing with his index finger to indicate “one”.

“Truth or Dare?” Liam asked

Theo looked over at Liam, the chimera had a glint of competitiveness in eyes. “Dare” he smirked

Liam thought for a minute “Hmmm, I dare you to. . .” he hesitated, watching Theo’s eyes follow every word off of his lips, “full shift into a wolf!” Liam finished with a grin.

Theo got up and with a cocky grin simply said “done”

Liam watched as the boy before him turned into a beautiful black wolf. The wolf looked at Liam, and then rolled over on the floor like a puppy wanting to play. Liam just continued to giggle before he settled back into Theo’s bed (the _Wulfsbier_ suddenly making him very sleepy. He heard a sad whine from the wolf on the floor, so he without thinking too much patted the bed.

Theo the wolf immediately jumped up, walked around in a quick circle and then curled up at the foot of the bed. Liam reached down and grabbed at Theo’s fur, “such a soft wolf!” he almost squealed, in between yawns. Eventually drunk Liam grew tired of petting Theo and lay back down, the beta and chimera both falling asleep at the same time.

Theo slept almost the entire night through (a rather uncommon occurrence), only waking up around three in the morning when he kept feeling Liam’s foot touching his head (the fur was sooo soft). Theo growled a bit in annoyance, before adjusting his position to be alongside Liam. The younger boy rolled over and lazily draped an arm across the black wolf next to him and continued sleeping.

Deucalion came back into the room around four in the morning, pockets laden heavy from a successful gambling endeavor. As he walked across the living room he nearly fell tripping on one of the bottles. “What happened here?” he looked around cautiously. As he made his way back to his small, shared bedroom, he peeked in through the open door to see the young beta with his arms curled around the soft black wolf that he immediately recognized as Theo. He chuckled for a brief moment, wondering how it was possible that a wolf could snore, before sighing and shaking his head. “I guess I’m taking the couch tonight” he said to himself, before walking back out into the shared living room.


	10. Wolfsbane Tinted Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo and Liam experience the joys of a wolfbane induced hangover. Theo gets a second chance.

Deucalion woke up to sunlight pouring into the living room area. The older wolf groaned as he sat up from his sleeping position on the couch, his spine letting out an audible CRACK, as he adjusted his posture. Rubbing the sleep from his bleary eyes, he looked around the room, bottles still strewn everywhere. Glancing over at the clock on the opposite wall he saw the time display: 10:00AM. “Guess it’s time to wake the pups” he muttered, making his way across the bottle covered floor.

 

He walked over to the shared bedroom and saw the young beta, mouth open and lightly snoring, with his arm clutched tightly around Theo (still in wolf form). “Never pictured Theo as the little spoon type” he chuckled to himself.

Deucalion rapped his fist loudly against the open door.

“Mgggh” was the muffled semblance of words that escaped the sleepy beta’s mouth

“Wake up, the dawn is nigh young pups!” Deucalion tried shouting

“No! mmff, he’s my wolf! Y-you can’t have him!” Liam, still mostly asleep said, before squeezing wolf Theo even harder.

 

Deucalion reached down and picked up one of the empty bottles lying on the floor; he hurled it against the wall above the bed where the two boys were sleeping, producing a loud CRASH sound as it shattered.

Liam awoke with a sputter, eyes wide looking for whatever threat made that noise. Suddenly he saw Deucalion standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his front. “I – uh. . .5 m-more minuteshh?” he asked

Deucalion just shook his head.

Wolf Theo put his paws over his snout and closed his eyes, giving a sad whine.

Deucalion gave his best Alpha roar. Theo reluctantly shifted back into human form. “Shhh! Not so loud!” the chimera complained, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes; wincing at the bright light and loud noises.

 Deucalion laughed a bit at hungover Theo.

 

Liam looked around suddenly noticing that the black wolf that he had cuddled with all night was gone. “W-where did my wolf go?” he asked confused. “Right here, Liam” Theo groaned “and please, not so loud?”

“But you’re jussst Theo, I www-ant my soft black wolf back!” the beta slurred

“Great. He’s _still_ a little drunk.” Deucalion said rolling his eyes

“Lucky him” Theo lamented.

“I’d make a ‘hair-of-the-dog’ joke, but--” Deucalion started

“Please don’t” the chimera finished

Liam suddenly giggled “T-Teeo’s not wearing any pants!” the young beta erupted into laughter almost rolling off the bed.

Theo rolled his eyes, and grabbed a fresh set of clothes from on top of the dresser, starting to head out of the room so he could grab a quick shower.

“Make sure you get the place picked up before Peter gets back” Deucalion called out after him, “I quit cleaning up your messes a _long_ time ago” the demon wolf added. Theo waved his hand and shut the bathroom door.

 

Theo turned on the water in the shower and stepped inside, the warm water running over his body seemed to help him wake-up a bit and feel marginally better. Theo hung his head into his arm which he braced against the shower wall as the steam rose up. He remembered having a hangover one time in his life; the time before the Dread Doctors. Somehow this felt so much worse, maybe it was the wolfsbane?

Still, he thought to himself as he began to run the shampoo through his hair; as awful as he felt today, he wouldn’t have traded the previous night for anything in the world. He felt like he had gotten to actually _know_ Liam a little more, to be normal for once instead of the usual life or death battles that took up most of their time.

 

A bit of an epiphany occurred to Theo while standing there in the warm water, rinsing the suds off of his toned body; the _only_ person he had ever willingly turned full wolf for was Liam Dunbar. It wasn’t an easy process for the chimera; it took _months_ of practice under the less than patient instruction of the Dread Doctors before he even came close to getting the hang of it. And it hurt. Like every bone in your body was simultaneously being broken and re-knit together all at once, combined with the feeling of all of your internal organs melting and boiling your blood.

But Theo didn’t care. If changing into a wolf could make the other boy smile, he would do it a thousand times. Happy Liam was more than payment enough.

 

Turning the water and stepping out of the shower, Theo grabbed one of impossibly fluffy towels from the rack and dried himself off.

As much as his head hurt, the thought of Liam smiling at the sight of him as a full wolf brought a stupid grin to his face. The chimera quickly threw on a pair of clean sweatpants, and the soft hoodie he had grabbed without looking. Theo took a deep breath, feeling more relaxed he opened the door to the bathroom.

 

Theo walked out into the kitchen to see Liam, slightly more dressed than he was, sitting on a bar stool behind the counter in the kitchen; Deucalion was at the stove cooking up some pancakes.

“Coffee?” the older wolf asked

Theo just waved his hand. The chimera _hated_ coffee. Instead he plodded over to the refrigerator and pulled out his usual carbonated remedy of choice. Grabbing a handful of aspirin from the first-aid cabinet on the counter, he downed the half-dozen pills with a massive gulp from the Red Bull can.

 

Liam was busy, buried face-down in his plate of pancakes, practically inhaling the food. Theo winced as he turned and walked into the sunlight filled living room, bending over to start cleaning up the bottles while waiting on Deuc to finish the next batch of pancakes.

 

Liam looked over as he grabbed a quick gulp of orange juice to wash down the mouthful of pancake. “Hey that’s my hoodie!” he called out pointing in Theo’s direction.

 

Theo spun around, “What?” he looked down at the maroon colored fabric of the Beacon Hills Lacrosse hoodie that he had on. He honestly hadn’t noticed, he just reached for the nearest thing with sleeves that didn’t smell bad. And there it was; while it definitely wasn’t completely clean, Theo grabbed it because he thought it smelled good, because it smelled like _Liam_.

“Wearing your boyfriend’s shirt? Night must have gone better than I thought” Deucalion chuckled at the stove.

Immediately, and in unison, both boys called out “He’s not my boyfriend!”

The older wolf just rolled his eyes.

 

“I-I’m sorry Liam, I wasn’t looking, I just grabbed for something clean to throw on when I got out of the shower” Theo stuttered out

“Um, okay” Liam replied

“Here!” Theo quickly pulled off the #9 Dunbar hoodie and tossed it over at the beta. Liam caught it by surprise. “Uh” the beta started out

“Mr. Raeken, if you would _please_ put on some kind of shirt? Some of us are trying to eat here!” Deucalion called out at the chimera

Theo quickly jogged into the washroom, knowing there were no more clean clothes in his room. Looking through the items in the dryer, all he could find were a few of Derek’s items, mixed in with mostly Peter and Deuc’s clothes.

Digging through the bottom he saw that at some point the lacrosse jersey he had thrown in the wash the night before (as he had planned to let Liam give it back to Coach the next day) had gotten moved to the dryer. Unfortunately, it was now quite a bit tighter from the rather loose fitting jersey he remembered from the night before.

 

Liam was on plate number four of pancakes, and the demon wolf was both impressed and rather perplexed. How the short-stack in front of him had gone through so many, well “short stacks” was a complete mystery to him.

 

Liam heard the soft patter of Theo’s feet on the hardwood floor and looked over. The poor beta dropped the piece of pancake he was eating from his mouth to his plate. There across the room, sunlight providing an angelic backlight, stood Theo. Wearing only the chimera’s favorite pair of sweatpants, and a now very tight lacrosse jersey Liam couldn’t help but stare in awe as the athletic fabric clung to and outlined every curve of the other boy’s perfectly toned body, and exposing just the _slightest_ bit of the tanned skin and small trail of hair just above the waistline of the sweatpants.

 

Theo just stared back, a little confused at the deer in the headlights look the beta was giving him, “See anything you like Dunbar?” he teased, trying to break the trance-like state the younger boy seemed to be in.

 

“Uhhh” Liam managed to get out, “no, it’s owww, my head!” he deflected motioning towards the brightness pouring in through the windows. “Could you like close the blinds or something?” Liam asked.

“Sounds like someone’s hangover has finally kicked in” Deucalion mused

 

Theo walked over to the window, taking his time and shifting his hips just slightly enough with each step that he knew he was keeping the attention of the beta.

Theo easily could have reached the blinds, but he was having far too much fun after having seen the look on Liam’s face when he walked out in the extremely tight shirt. He slowly lifted himself up so he was standing on the tips of his toes, and stretched his arms as high above his head as he could to grasp the window blind wand. Almost immediately he felt the set of eyes on his back.

Well . . . not his “back”, more like the jersey that had slipped quite a bit upwards into the small of his back, while his sweatpants dipped just low enough to expose the slightest bit of the beginning of the valley of the chimera’s perfect, tanned ass.

Theo made a slight sudden jump upwards, pretending to be finishing his final reach for the blinds; the sudden upward movement was _just_ enough to cause his butt to give a tiny bounce. He heard the sudden sucking in of air from across the room, and just smirked deviously. He knew _exactly_ what he was doing to the poor boy.

 

Theo lowered himself back to the ground, and slowly started to make his way back to the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye he just barely managed to catch Liam quickly turning away; before the beta was blushing and furiously stuffing his face with more breakfast carbs, trying to chase the images of the older boy from his head.

 

“That any better?” Theo asked innocently, cocking his head to the side

“Uhh, better, yeah much better” Liam said not looking up.

Deucalion just shook his head, placing the last of the pancakes onto a plate near the stove.

 

The three of them finished their breakfast in relative silence. Around noon, Liam’s werewolf healing had finally caught up with his hangover and he was ready to head back home. Theo slipped on some shoes and guided Liam out the door and towards his truck.

 

“Theo?” Liam asked at about the halfway point to his house.

“Mmhm?” Theo hummed, eyes not leaving the road

“Thanks” Liam said

“For what?” the chimera chuckled

“Last night. It was nice to . . . you know, escape” the beta replied

“So, I’m just your _escape_?” Theo countered, still slightly teasing

“You know what I mean. I don’t have to pretend around you, I don’t feel like I have to impress you; you’re just ‘Theo’. Mason’s always trying to get me to go out and party and sometimes all I really want is just some quiet to try and get out of my own head. To calm my wolf. When I’m around you I can do that” Liam tried to explain

“Yeah I guess” Theo said, trying not sound a little hurt at Liam’s last statement

“Anyway, thanks for the ride; we should hang out more often.” Liam suggested as the truck pulled up to the Dunbar-Geyer driveway

“Sure. Anytime” Theo replied.

“Theo” Liam said looking at the older boy with a confused smirk

“What?” the chimera asked not sure what he was getting at

“You plan on returning that jersey?” Liam said smiling and pointing at the covering on the chimera

“Oh shit, I almost forgot. It was the only thing clean I had this morning. Um, can you tell your Coach I can run it by the locker room sometime today?” he asked.

“Sure, no problem. It’s a Saturday, but we have a light scrimmage around noon. But he’ll probably be in his office all day. I honestly think he _lives_ there.” Liam said only half joking.

 

Liam grabbed his stuff out of Theo’s truck and headed towards the front door of his house. Theo turned the truck around and started driving back to his place.

 

\-------

 

Walking through the front door Theo could be forgiven for thinking the other residents of the penthouse had gone out. It was completely quiet. He causally started strolling towards his bedroom, when he passed the corner to the kitchen he suddenly felt a sharp THWACK across the back of his head.

“Owww! What the hell?!” Theo exclaimed

“You know exactly what that was for” came the answer from Deucalion

Theo just looked over at him confused

“I thought I had taught you everything I had known about torture, but clearly you picked up a few things while I was gone. You know exactly what you were doing to Scott’s little beta” Deucalion accused

“So!” Theo countered defensively

“You can’t _make_ someone love you Theo” Deuc tried to explain

“He did” Theo sighed dejectedly

The older wolf just shook his head “I don’t get paid enough to be giving _you_ relationship advice” he muttered before walking towards the door. “Just make sure you get all of that cleaned up!” he added

 

Theo nodded and then bent down, starting to collect the empty bottles. He was about to toss the first one into the bag across from him before-

 

“And don’t put the glass in the trash can!” Deuc shouted. Theo swore the older wolf was psychic sometimes. “Just because we’re monsters doesn’t mean we don’t care about the environment. The recycle bin is there for a reason!” Deucalion added before finally leaving the penthouse.

 

Theo muttered something profane under his breath before complying.

 

\-------

 

Liam’s mom dropped him off at the short lacrosse practice that afternoon. As he was walking into the locker room Mason and Corey caught up with him.

“Dude, where were you last night?” Mason asked

“Uh, I was just hanging out” Liam non-answered

“You weren’t answering your phone” Mason said suspiciously

“Sorry, I forgot it in Theo’s truck” Liam let the words slip out before his brain could stop him

“ _Theo’s_ truck?” Corey asked, eyebrow raised

“Yeah.” Liam rebutted defensively, “We got Chipotle after the game and then got drunk at his place and watched Netflix. It was nice. He’s actually not that bad once you get to know him” Liam added

 

Mason and Corey just stared at each other in disbelief.

“You ‘Netflix and Chilled’ with Theo Raeken?!” Mason asked again

“Uggh, it’s not like that!” Liam protested “I just needed an escape . . . my _wolf_ needed an escape. Especially after that _last_ party” Liam added

“Okay then?” Corey said awkwardly trying to move past the subject at hand

 

Fortunately before Mason could continue his inquisition, a loud shout was heard from Coach’s office.

“DUNBAR! Get in here!” Coach yelled

“Uh-oh” Liam groaned

“Maybe it’s something good?” Corey tried

Liam just looked at his teammate doubtfully before walking into the office.

 

“Dunbar, where did you find that magnificent creature last night?!” the Coach asked

“Uh, excuse me Coach?” Liam asked confused

“That perfect lacrosse winning machine you brought in at the last quarter, what else would I be talking about?! Where did you find him?”

“Umm, the parking lot?” Liam answered

“Well can you find him again? Or her, I don’t really care either way. We just could really use someone like that on the team. Did you get their name?” Coach further inquired

“Theo Raeken, Coach but I do-” Liam started before Coach cut him off

“Well you find Mr. Thaeken and tell him to come and see me as soon as possible!” Coach finished

“It’s Raeken Coach, and he’s not a stu-” Liam tried

Coach blew his whistle, silencing the beta. “That’s an order Dunbar!” he shouted.

“Yes Coach” Liam said obediently before walking out of the office and back into the locker room.

 

\-------

 

It was 8pm by the time Theo had gotten the suite fully cleaned up, and had returned from just about every specialty store in Beacon Hills (and 4 surrounding towns) to replace all of the _Wulfsbier_ he and Liam had consumed the night prior. He had forgotten all about the jersey, and by now he figured it was too late to run it over to the high school. He could always do it Monday, he reasoned to himself. Finishing the laundry, Theo finally had clean clothes of his own. Peter and Derek were still out for the weekend, and he had no idea where Deucalion was.

 

He looked at his phone and saw a text from his boss. One of the other employees was desperate to make up some hours so he had asked if Theo wouldn’t mind taking a night off. Theo was really tired, so he happily replied that it was fine by him. The chimera turned on the television and started flipping through the channels before falling asleep where he lay.

 

He didn’t even hear when the older wolf stumbled back into the flat. He slowly woke up to the sound of giggling coming from his shared bedroom. Rising slowly, he cautiously made his way over to the door to the room. Turning the handle he found it wasn’t locked. Then he opened the door. There, on Deuc’s side of the room, was the older wolf on the bed, buried beneath three beautiful women, triplets by the look of it, all practically smothering Deuc in kisses. Theo quickly shut the door and shuddered.

“Guess he had a good night at the casino” Theo muttered to himself. He looked to the couch, moping at the prospect of once again being sexiled by his roommate. This was going to be a long night.

 

\-------

 

Theo got through Sunday. It was a quiet shift at _Sinema_ , which meant the tips were sub-par at best; but something was better than nothing. He got back to the flat to find Deucalion passed out on the couch, some nature documentary on in the background, and cold Chinese take-out on the counter. Grabbing two of the cartons and a pair of chopsticks, Theo headed back to his room. Sitting cross-legged on his bed he picked up his little history fact book started reading, in-between slurps of beef chow mein.

 

Theo woke up to his phone going off. He had forgotten he had set an alarm to get up first thing that morning. He wanted to make sure he didn’t forget to return the lacrosse jersey this time. He quickly showered and then got dressed before heading out. It was 10am, but Deucalion was still snoring asleep on the couch as he closed the door.

 

He quickly downed the Red Bull he had in the cup holder in his truck as he pulled into the packed school parking lot. He had washed the jersey, and folded it neatly on the seat next to him. Parking the blue Toyota Tundra in the furthest away spot he could find, he stepped out and began his way to the locker room.

 

Eventually he found what he was looking for. Stepping inside his nose was immediately assaulted with all the smells one would expect of a high school boy’s locker room, his faced scrunched in protest. He heard a chuckle from across the room. “I’d say you get used to it, but you don’t” the older man said, picking up an abandoned shirt from the floor.

Theo nodded

“And you are?” the man asked

“Theo, Theo Raeken, I’m looking to return the jersey I borrowed last night?” Theo stated looking at the man with the wild hair and whistle draped around his neck.

“You! Into my office right now!” Coach barked at him

“But I was just retur-” Theo tried, before being met with a whistle blast

 

The chimera complied and followed the Coach into the office.

“have a seat, Mr. ah. . .ah” the Coach started before glancing down at the array of papers spread across his desk, “Mr. Raeken!” he said, the name finally coming to his mind

Theo complied and sat in the chair in front of the Coach’s desk, jersey still clutched in his hands

Coach looked over at the boy with a crazy grin on his face, “How would you like to play lacrosse?” he asked enthusiastically

“Um, don’t you have to be a student?” Theo asked, trying to be nominally polite

“Technically yes” Coach replied, “According to the California High School Athletics Association, in order to qualify, an athlete must not have graduated and must also be actively taking classes at the specified academic institution”

“Still not seeing where I fit in” Theo pointed out

“I pulled your academic records Raeken” Coach blurted out

Theo looked over at him surprised, and a little violated

“Mrs. William’s the office lady owes me a few favors, but let’s not get carried away” Coach started. “It says here you dropped out?” Coach asked, “Family emergency or something?”

“You could say that” Theo replied subtly, “What’s that have to do wit-”

 “Says here that you’re only a few credits short of graduating, yet you’re still under the maximum age of attendance according to the state” he added

 

Theo was starting to connect the dots. “So?” he tried to pass off nonchalantly

“So, here’s your new schedule!” Coach said tossing him a laminated sheet of paper enthusiastically. “All of your AP Bio, Anatomy, and Chemistry credits were able to carry over for a lot of your senior credits as well. Combine that with all the transfer credits from your other schools and you’re only missing about 9 credits of History”

“Why should I come back, what’s in it for me?” Theo growled a little defiantly

“Because what you did last night was incredible, and this team could really use a phenomenal player like yourself. Especially since our current captain will likely get pulled if he keeps failing biology and anatomy” Coach explained honestly

Liam hadn’t mentioned he was having trouble in school before, Theo thought to himself.

 

Theo pondered his options to himself for a moment. He knew he didn’t belong here. He was selfish for what he was thinking; but he was also helpless to turn down the chance to spend more time with Liam. Getting his High School diploma would just be an added bonus.

 

“Alright, when do I begin?” Theo asked with a grin.

 

\-------

 

Theo left the Coach’s office, schedule in hand and proceeded to collect his textbooks and make-up assignments from each of his teachers, before checking in at the office. Apparently, he never _officially_ dropped out, as he never filled out the official withdrawal form. Sometimes bureaucracy did have its merits he supposed.

 

The next week Theo showed up to his first official lacrosse practice.

“What are you doing here?” Liam asked, perplexed by the sight of the chimera in the locker room with the rest of the team. Right as he was about to answer the Coach stepped out to make an announcement “Gentlemen, I’d like you to welcome the newest starting member of the Beacon Hills Cyclones, Theo Raeken!” he shouted as the other boys in the room started applauding, recognizing him as the other hero from last Friday night’s game. “Here you go!” Coach added handing Theo his very own jersey, a number 95 emblazoned on the back, right below his own surname in white letters.

 

Liam just looked at him dumbfounded. Theo just shrugged, and grabbed his gear and followed the other players out onto the field.

 

It was a long practice, but Liam had to give it to Theo; the chimera was really trying his best, despite having pretty much zero prior athletic experience. It wasn’t really all that noteworthy, mostly just running drill after drill, while Coach shouted his ever-so-inventive threats from the sidelines.

 

Eventually the practice was over and the players stumbled their way into the locker room to undress and grab a quick shower before heading home.

 

Theo, though his hair was still wet from the shower, had just started to put his normal clothes back on when Liam walked up to him. “Hey” he started

Theo looked back at him, waiting for the beta to elaborate

“So, uh, Mason and Corey were going out to grab something to eat before heading home, and I was wondering if you wanted to tag along? Unless of course you have to work or something, which I totally get” Liam rambled

“No that sounds great” Theo replied

“Okay, I’ll text you the address. Mason and Corey are already waiting in their car. We’ll save you a seat!” he called out at Theo as he hurriedly sprinted out of the locker room.

 

Theo continued to pull on his jeans, and navy blue shirt before gathering his lacrosse gear into his bag and heading out to his truck.

 

\-------

 

“So wait. . .you invited Theo, and he said he’d come along? Willingly? You know, and not _murder_ anyone?” Mason asked with a look of surprise as Liam sat into the booth across from him and Corey at the main late-night diner in Beacon Hills

“Yeah, I mean I think he’s a little sick of eating take-out all the time, but he seemed excited at just hanging out for a bit after practice” Liam admitted sheepishly

“Seriously, who did you kidnap and switch Theo’s body with?” Corey joked

Liam just rolled his eyes.

At that moment they heard the bell on the door ring as it opened and Theo stepped into the diner. Liam flashed a quick wave of his hand to signal where the group was at, and Theo quickly slid in next to Liam, opposite Corey.

 

“Hey guys, hope I’m not too late!” Theo said with a quick smile as he looked over at Liam. Corey and Mason just stared at each other in shock. Theo? Smiling?

“Did you guys already order yet, or?” Theo asked right as the waitress was coming up. Mason and Corey quickly put their orders in, followed by Liam. Theo admittedly hadn’t had enough time to look over the menu, but he didn’t want to hold up the group any longer, so he just told pointed to Liam and told the waitress “I’ll have what he’s having”; she nodded and went back to the kitchen to hand off the orders.

 

“So, you’re on the lacrosse team now?” Corey asked Theo, mouth full of burger.

“Yeah, was kind of shocked myself. Coach practically forced me to. Wouldn’t take no for an answer” Theo laughed

“Don’t you have to be a student?” Mason said suspiciously

“Yeah, he also took care of that too. I’m 9 credit hours away from my high school diploma.” Theo replied

“Didn’t you drop out?” Liam asked curiously

“Apparently I never filled out the paper work to officially withdraw; what with being in hell and all. . .” Theo trailed off. “Coach said all the AP credits, plus the transfer credits from the previous schools the Dread Doctors listed, mean I only need a few more history classes, and then I’m done” he finished

 

The four boys eventually moved away from the topic of Theo and onto more typical high school conversation, occasionally drifting onto pack subjects as well; all the while wolfing down their food. Theo mostly just sat back and watched the other three go back and forth. He almost felt . . . normal?

 

Eventually it came time for the bill. The waitress came back, Mason paid for himself and Corey. Liam quickly felt his pants pocket before realizing he forgot his wallet. “I uh, guys, can someone cover me, I must have forgot my wallet at home” he asked embarrassingly, “It’s okay, I got you” Theo volunteered, setting his card on both Liam’s and his own bills.

“Can you guys excuse me for a second, I’ve got to hit the restroom before we head off” Theo said, getting up from the table and heading towards the back of the diner.

 

“Dude!” Mason practically shouted at Liam

“What?” the beta asked confused

“What did you . . . _do_ to Theo?” he asked

“What do you mean ‘what did I do to Theo’ ?” Liam said narrowing his eyes

“Corey, in all the time you spent with him, did you _ever_ once see Theo smile like he did just now?” Mason asked for back-up

“Nope” was all the other boy said in response, eyes still sort of wide in disbelief at the sight he had just witnessed.

Mason just looked knowingly over at Liam.

Liam just stared back, still confused as to what Mason was getting at.

 “So first you start spending more time around him, then he’s on the same sport team as you, and now he’s hanging out with us and giving you massive heart eyes?” Mason asked incredulously

“We’re just friends” Liam tried to reply defensively

Mason continued to stare in disbelief

“Okay maybe a little _more_ than friends, but it’s not anything more than that, we’re just ‘wolves helping wolves’; he’s my anchor and it helps me get a better grip on my wolf!” Liam tried again

“Jesus Christ Liam! _‘Wolves helping wolves’_? What is that, like a step away from ‘werewolf-friends-with-benefits?” Mason shot back accusingly

Liam just stared down at his empty plate “It’s nothing serious. . .”

“Are you sure _Theo_ knows that?” Mason asked, a bit more concerned this time

“What do you mean, we’ve talked about it before?” Liam answered

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I would never try to defend Theo, and I would also never judge you for having hot chimera sex” he started before throwing a loving arm around Corey, “but it’s not really fair to use him like that; you shouldn’t take advantage of someone that has feelings for you, even if that person is Theo Raeken” Mason pointed out

“Theo doesn’t have feelings for me!” Liam scoffed in disbelief

Mason just rolled his eyes

At that moment Theo had returned from the restroom break, and finished settling up the bill with the waitress, “Ready to go?” the older boy asked

“Yeah, I’m taking Corey back to my place; are you alright to take Liam back home?” Mason asked Theo

 

Liam looked over at Mason, sensing what the other boy was up to immediately

“Sure, it’s no trouble, come on Li, grab your stuff, we can swing by your place” Theo replied before heading out towards the truck

“Li?” Mason snickered under his breath after Theo had stepped out. Liam just glared at him

 

\-------

 

The truck ride to Liam’s house was quiet. Theo tried to break the silence. “Soo . . .” he began

Liam looked over at him. “Coach says you’re failing bio and anatomy?” Theo asked

Liam just sort of grunted and looked out the window. “You know, it doesn’t really matter to me either way since it’s none of my business; but if you ever want help, I kind of kick ass at all things science” Theo chuckled trying to make light of the situation.

 

Liam sighed. He really _did_ need help with those subjects if he wanted to keep his place on the team. “What do you get out of it?” he asked, a little surprised at the chimera’s altruism. “Well, I could use some help with those history classes. . .” he trailed off. He knew that was Liam’s favorite subject. “How can anyone struggle at _history_?” Liam said in disbelief.

“How can anyone not understand the intimate chemical processes going on inside their own body?” Theo countered

“So . . . study friends?” Liam asked. “I’m willing if you are” Theo replied.

“Deal” Liam said, an involuntary smile spread to his face.

 

It seemed like Theo and Liam were going to be spending even more time together than either had thought, much to the delight of both boys.


	11. The Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The misfit pack has noticed something different about Theo lately, and feel it's best to find out what he's up to.

Chapter 11: The Talk

Theo entered in the key code on the elevator for the penthouse suite; he was far too tired to deal with stairs tonight.

Stepping out into the short hallway that led to the entrance, he adjusted the gym bag filled with his lacrosse equipment that was currently slung over his left shoulder.

 

Turning his key in the lock, Theo opened the door and stepped into the front room before silently (he thought at least) shutting it back into place.

 

He took a breath and let out a sigh of relief. It seemed like every time he came home anymore, he had to face a welcome party; the darkness of the living room around him was a welcome change. That was until he heard the unmistakable sound of a certain former alpha clearing his throat.

 

Theo looked across the darkened room in the direction of the sound, only to be greeted by the flash of two blazing blue eyes piercing through the darkness. Great, Derek was back.

 

“Out late” the younger Hale observed

“You waited up all by yourself? Just for me? I’m touched by your concern, really!” Theo cooed sarcastically placing both of his hands over his heart in a mocking gesture.

 

Derek ignored him, and instead just clapped; the main light in the room activating at the sound, revealing another figure slumped opposite Derek on the couch across from his chair.

“He’s not alone” Deucalion called out, leaving his arms folded over his chest; “and you _are_ back rather late” he added with a tone of slight suspicion

 

“I got dinner with some of the guys after practice, _dad_ ” Theo answered the elder wolf, rolling his eyes on that last part

 

“Hmm, that bag _is_ a bit small for a body” Derek observed curiously

 

“It’s for lacrosse!” Theo shouted back, tired of everyone always assuming he was up to the murders

 

Derek traded a few looks of surprise with Deucalion, before returning to blink in disbelief at the young chimera’s claim before him.

 

“Never took you for one to partake in team-based athletics” Deucalion stated

 

“Hey, Derek played a sport!” Theo tried defensively, growing ever more irritated at his roommates.

 

“True, but I was doing it to impress a girl” Derek replied nonchalantly

 

Theo was about to open his mouth to snark something back, but suddenly he felt the words evaporate; he felt a light blush as he looked down to the floor before his feet.

 

“Yeah, and how did _that_ turn out?” Peter called out sarcastically from seemingly nowhere.

 

Theo turned on his heel to see Peter leaning against the wall near the entrance to his suite. The older wolf’s arms were crossed over his chest, and he wore a smug grin on his face.

 

Derek ignored his uncle, while Peter’s head suddenly cocked to the side in an odd expression

“That bag looks a little small for a body . . .” he observed

 

“That’s what I said!” Derek exclaimed from his seat in the armchair

 

“Oh. My. God!! Why is it always like the Spanish Inquisition with you guys?!” Theo shouted, running his hands through his hair in frustration, and doing his best to refrain from pulling it out

 

“I thought you were an atheist?” Peter chuckled

 

“And since when do you know anything about history?” Deucalion asked

 

Theo just stormed off in the direction of his shared room and promptly slammed the door behind him.

 

“Remind me again why we thought adopting a moody, teenage, science experiment was a good idea?” Peter asked rhetorically.

 

“Because the true alpha _you_ gave the bite to asked us to keep an eye on him” Deucalion replied

 

“So, this is all my fault somehow?” Peter sneered back doubtfully

 

“It was your beta’s beta that brought him back after all” Deucalion pointed out, much to Peter’s annoyance

 

“Someone should go talk to him” Derek broke in, ignoring the pointless argument the other two wolves were having

 

“You’ll have to find someone besides me” Deucalion began, “I’ve already played ‘advice wolf’ more than either of you two” he finished, thinking back to his morning conversation with the chimera in the kitchen

 

Peter turned his glare to his nephew across the room. The two wolves locked their eyes in a vicious staring contest, neither one daring to blink. Derek’s right eye twitched slightly, but he kept from blinking.

 

“Well this is going nowhere” Peter said

 

Derek just clenched his jaw tighter and continued his stubborn stare

 

“You’re not going to win. I shared a tiny cell with an insane doctor that drilled a hole into his skull for a third eye.” Peter said again, recalling his time in Eichen House with Dr. Valack. Derek didn’t even flinch.

 

Deucalion, quickly growing tired of the futile game, suddenly brought his cane down across the table in front the couch. The unexpected THWACK sound caused the two other wolves to turn their heads in the direction of the noise, and blink reflexively.

 

“That doesn’t count!” Peter quickly called out

 

Derek just sat back in the chair. “Only one way to settle this then” he concluded, readying his hand by his side

Peter nodded coldly, bracing himself and readying his reflexes for what was about to come.

 

Suddenly Derek shouted “Nose goes!”, and quickly placed his right index finger on the tip of his nose.

The whole affair took place in just a few fractions of a second, but it was clear that Peter was, in fact, the last one in the room to connect his finger to his nose.

 

“Just for the record; I hate all of you” Peter muttered. Derek and Deuc just traded smirks, before turning back to face the defeated Peter. 

 

“I just got back from spending a weekend with Malia!” Peter tried protesting again. “Imagine a whole car ride filled with a moody, short-tempered teenager with boy troubles!” he attempted again, not getting any sympathy from his audience

 

“Sounds a lot like Theo” Deucalion observed, the other wolf seated across from him nodded in agreement.

“See? You’ve got plenty of experience with this sort of thing” Derek chuckled

 

Peter turned around and started walking away, shaking his head.

“This is so not worth the tax write off of getting to claim him as a dependent” he muttered under his breath

 

\-------

Theo sat cross-legged on his bed with his back leaning against the wall, history book opened in his lap as he started making his way through the assigned reading. He had a lot of work to catch up on if he wanted to graduate this term. It’s not that he expected that going back to school would be easy; it’s just that he also had a job, and now somehow, he had ended up on the lacrosse team. To say that he had a lot on his plate at the moment was a gross understatement.

 

He started to ask himself why he signed up for all this, but stopped because he already knew the answer. Fluffy hair, bright blue eyes, short, anger issues. Liam.

 

Theo wasn’t exactly sure when his feelings for Scott’s beta had turned from annoyance to friendly endearment to full-blown infatuation, but it was getting decidedly inconvenient. Faking emotions was easy, but actually having to deal with real ones? That was something Theo was still learning how to process.

Wasn’t it normal to feel attached to your anchor?

 

Peter brought his fist up and quickly rapped on the door three times, long having learned the importance of knocking before walking in on a teenage boy alone in his room.

 

“What” Theo growled, not looking up from his textbook

 

“Can I come in?” Peter called out through the door, hand already grasping the knob

 

“Would it make any difference if I said no?” Theo sighed. At least when he was living out of his truck he was never in want for time to himself; well, except for when Beacon Hills PD felt like delivering another complimentary wake-up call.

 

“Probably not, I do own the place after all” Peter mused as he opened the door. Closing it behind him, the elder Hale leaned firmly against the frame. Theo tried his best to ignore him, contenting himself with passive-aggressively flipping the pages of his book as loudly as possible.

 

“You’ve been acting a little different lately . . .” Peter trailed off in a leading way, giving Theo an opening to elaborate on

 

“If you say so” the chimera murmured dismissively, loudly flipping another page of his book, after wetting his thumb and index finger with tongue

 

“So . . . anything you want to talk about?” Peter tried again, tired of the deflection

 

“Not really” Theo replied, equally disinterested in this conversation lasting any longer than it absolutely had to

 

“So everything’s fine?” Peter asked again

 

“Yep” Theo replied, still not making eye-contact.

 

“Well, good. Great talk.” Peter breathed a sigh of relief and turned the handle to the door. Just as he had finished his exit, he caught sight of Derek staring at him, shaking his head and pointing his finger for his uncle to go back in.

 

Rolling his eyes, Peter re-entered the shared bedroom and made his way over to where Theo was seated.

“They won’t let either of us out of here until we talk this out so let’s hurry up and get it over with” he lamented

 

“Could always fight our way out” Theo suggested

Peter turned to look at him, his only response was a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk

 

“What? We could take them” Theo continued confidently, “Derek looks like he’s still jet-lagged, and Deuc is a pacifist now”

 

“Tell that to his cane” Peter countered, wincing at the memory of the latest hit, but earning a small laugh from the chimera seated next to him

 

“So, lacrosse?” Peter asked, gesturing towards the stick poking out of the sports duffel bag on the floor, and the rubber lacrosse ball poking out of the opening one of the untied cleats

 

“Just sort of happened” Theo shrugged

 

“You’re seeming more like a member of Scott’s pack every day” Peter observed curiously

 

“Does Scott know that?” Theo barked back,

 

“He did ask us to keep an eye on you” Peter replied

 

“For your sakes, or for mine?” Theo shot back coldly

 

“I think that question is rhetorical enough for the both of us” Peter quipped, growing tired of the snide non-answers. “Although maybe you could ask him the next time you borrow his beta and drink all my booze” he added

 

“Okay, first of all, I paid you back for that” he started “and second, I didn’t _borrow_ Liam! He’s a werewolf, not a bicycle” Theo scoffed, perplexed by Peter’s odd word choice

 

“Really? Then why do you stare at him like you want to ride him like one?” Peter smirked with his head to the side, first in self-contented amusement, then confusion as he watched the color of the chimera’s face turn a flush crimson

 

“Well this just got exponentially more uncomfortable” Peter said awkwardly

 

“It’s not . . .he’s . . . we’re each other’s anchors. I was just trying to help” Theo sighed defensively

 

Peter’s smirk turned into a slight frown “here I was just trying to make a joke”

 

“You’re not funny” Theo replied

 

“I am very funny when I choose to be, I have a flawless sense of humor” Peter continued on in self-admiration

 

“Your sense of humor is either murder or bad dad puns” Theo accused.

 

Listing “murder” as a form of humor really only worked when talking about Peter. The older wolf’s idle threats usually arrived with an absurd level specificity that Theo reluctantly found mildly amusing. A month ago, the two of them were picking up supplies in a hardware store when the phrase “So help me Raeken, if you don’t stop whining and start putting the things we need in this cart right now I will take a pair of red, $3.89, teflon coated barbeque tongs to your resurrected half-wolf ass!” was uttered.

 

“Hey, Malia _loves_ my ‘bad dad puns’!” Peter said defensively

 

“She also likes squirrels” Theo pointed out

 

“Right, well I think we’re about done here” Peter announced, sitting up off the bed. He walked over towards the door, before turning around one last time. “You’re sure everything is fine?” he asked again

 

“Yeah, I’m sure” Theo answered, this time a bit more appreciatively. Peter just hummed and nodded in acknowledgment

 

“Oh, and Theo?” the older wolf called out

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Please don’t let me walk-in on you fooling around in here with my grand-beta” Peter cautioned

 

Theo was too embarrassed to produce a response beyond the gurgled start of a “Wh-?”

 

“Because then we have to have _the talk_ ; and I don’t think either of us wants to go through that” he explained. Theo nodded repeatedly in agreement before Peter made his exit from the room.

The list of things that terrified Theo Raeken was short, but the prospect of having to hear about Werewolf-Sex-Ed from Peter Hale definitely made the cut.

 

\-------

 

Peter walked back into the main room of the penthouse, a satisfied nod from Derek indicated that the rest of his flatmates had overheard the entire conversation.

 

“That sounded like it went about as well as could be expected” Deucalion observed

 

“You think he’s telling the truth?” Derek asked quietly from the other side of the kitchen island, slurping lukewarm coffee from his “sourwolf” coffee mug.

 

“I think if Theo Raeken was plotting something, he would have come up with a better excuse than dropping the A-word” Peter speculated

 

Derek’s brow furrowed in silent thought, analyzing the older wolf’s statement in between another slurp of coffee from his mug.

 

“He does have a point” Deuc started.

 

Both of the other wolves turned to look face him, waiting for him to elaborate

 

“The last time Theo tried to destroy the pack, he claimed that he wanted to join them. Acceptance into a pack requires the trust of all of the other members because it potentially puts the entire group at risk.” He started to explain

“The only one left vulnerable by Theo confessing his anchor, is Theo” Deucalion finished

 

The other two nodded in silent agreement. They had all grown used to snarky Theo, deceitful Theo, even reluctantly-helpful-Theo. But a Theo that was justifying his sudden altruism by admitting he had actually let someone in close enough that now he trusted and depended on them . . . That was something new.

\-------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than I had originally intended, but I wanted to try and get more into how the struggle/feelings inside of Theo were manifesting, and how the others around him have noticed.


	12. Bad Moon Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Learning to live with your wolf can be a challenge but fortunately, Theo is there to help.  
> Derek tells of a rising threat.
> 
>  
> 
> Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Chapter 12: Bad Moon Rising

 

All of the added pressure and workload of returning to finish high school sometimes made Theo question his decision; but there was at least one small grace he was thankful for. Beacon Hills High School, in its effort to prepare its students for collegiate life, scheduled its classes in an alternating manner. Some classes were one hour on Monday-Wednesday-Friday, others were an hour and a half but only on Tuesday-Thursday.

 

Luckily for Theo, he had managed to get all of his history classes, the ones he needed to graduate, to fall on Tuesday & Thursday; effectively granting him a four-day weekend from school, _every_ weekend. Sure, the time was usually already taken up with work, lacrosse, and occasionally getting called in to help with pack stuff; but it was nice to catch a break from time to time.

 

Today was Tuesday, afternoon to be precise. All Theo really had to do was hand in his pile of back-logged papers, collect his list of assignments, and get the reading material for the test coming up on Thursday.

He should have been dreading the upcoming assessment and the newly replenished stack of work that sat in his bag on the passenger seat, but instead he was actually happy for once.

He hummed contentedly along to radio, while tapping his fingers along the steering wheel in his truck as he continued down the road; windows open, and the fresh air seeming to blow away every care he had in the world.

 

Tuesday was one of the few nights Marty ever closed _Sinema_ , so he didn’t have to go to work tonight. Lacrosse got canceled, so wouldn’t be stuck on the field until late either. Tonight, Theo Raeken only had one person counting on him. One thing he had committed to, the only obligation vying for his time this evening. Liam.

Well technically it was just a study date. Well maybe not a “date” date; unless maybe it was a “date” date?

 

Theo’s face twisted, mind deep in thought. He had brought food with him, and he may just have _happened_ to pick up Liam’s favorite order from the diner across town. Also, he was supposed to be helping Liam with biology. In his room. Just the two of them.

 

Theo’s fantasy bubble popped when he then remembered that Liam was also supposed to be helping him study for his test over the Seven Year’s War. He shook his head, the cool air outside bringing him back down to reality as he puzzled over the tangled mess that was the conflict. Trying to think about which country was on what side, when, and for how long; Theo immediately got a taste of how Malia felt about math.

 

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a “date” date; he thought to himself, but at least he’d get to spend some time with Liam.  

 

Looking down at the time, he pressed his foot further down on the accelerator.

 

\-------

 

If Theo was having a great day, Liam was having precisely the opposite.

 

It started after he slept through his alarm. In a hurry, he missed the note his mom had left on the bathroom mirror informing him that the hot water heater was broken. Turning on the water he let out a howl he was certain the entire neighborhood could hear at the shock from the unexpected blast of icy water. Climbing out of the shower and drying off, he found that all of his clean clothes were still in the wash.

 

Sighing in frustration, he quickly scrounged around his unkept room, finding the least dirty garments he could locate, before applying a liberal amount of body spray to mask the scent. His wolf snarled at the oppressive scent; humans, fortunately, did not have quite as sensitive noses.

 

As if that wasn’t bad enough, he had missed his carpool with Mason and Corey. It was too late to call Theo. Without grabbing breakfast, he grabbed his backpack and lacrosse bag at took off out the front door. At least he’d get a morning run in, he thought desperate for a silver lining to this hell morning.

 

Practically flying through the air, Liam’s legs carried him swiftly down the walkway towards the school. It had rained the night before, which Liam didn’t think much of until he tripped over one of his untied shoelaces and landed face first in an unfortunately deep puddle.

 

Taking a deep breath, he got to his feet and started to pick up his pace again. Maybe if he ran fast enough he would dry off faster.

 

When he _did_ finally reach the school, he was just late enough that he had to sign the tardy list in the office. The woman behind the desk giving him a scowl like he was some unrepentant sinner. He wasn’t in the mood for her shit today.

 

As he started walking down the hall, he noticed a few students pointing and snickering. By this point, he was mostly dried off, so he wasn’t sure what their problem was. That is until he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his right foot. Looking down he glared at the offending object, a pen cap someone had dropped in the hall. Then he realized he had apparently lost his right shoe in the puddle. He bent down on one knee and grabbed his right lacrosse cleat from his bag. He quickly laced it up, trying not to think about how pitiful he must have looked with two mismatched shoes.

 

The rest of the day carried on much the same for the poor little wolf. He went to hand in his already late biology homework to Mrs. Finch, only to realize he had grabbed the wrong set of books.

 

Then came lunch, where he didn’t have anything packed and he had also forgotten his wallet at home. Probably in the wash with his pants, given how his luck was going today. Mason and Corey had a different lunch period on this day, so he instead headed to the weight room to try and burn off some of his frustration.

 

As he walked up to the building he saw a maintenance worker hanging a “closed” sign to the door.

“Sorry kid. Water main broke last night, it’s going to be at least a few days before we get it fixed and this place dried out” the older man sighed returning to his tool cart.

 

Liam could have punched a hole through a wall right then and there. At least the day was almost over. Once the final bell rang he could look forward to letting off some steam during lacrosse this afternoon.

 

After the bell rang he excitedly got out of his seat and started to make his way towards the locker room, when he suddenly felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

Looking down he saw the message: “Practice canceled”. He almost threw his phone out the nearest window right then and there.

 

All Liam wanted to do when he finally made it back home was crash face first into his pillow and cry. Which was precisely what he did.

 

\-------

 

Theo pulled his truck alongside the curb, careful not to block the entrance to the driveway for when Dr. Geyer came home from his shift at the hospital. 

Stepping out of the driver’s side, he slung his backpack full of study materials over his right shoulder and grabbed the bags of food in the same hand before closing the truck door.

 

Theo quickly, but softly, knocked on the front door.

Silence.

He waited patiently; maybe Liam had forgotten? Did he remember to text him that he was almost there?

Just as he was about to check his phone the front door opened.

 

“You must be Theo,” the woman (Theo was assuming to be his mother) said with an uneasy smile.

 

Suddenly they both heard a crash from the upstairs.

“Now’s really not the best time sweetie,” she said, an almost fearful look in her eyes.

 

She had the look of someone who had been through this before. Theo could only assume Liam was having another IED episode.

 

Theo heard a few more muffled thumps coming from above them. “I think I might be able to help,” Theo said calmly

 

Liam’s mom looked at him with trepidation, she started to say something about it not being a good idea before Theo put his hand on her shoulder.

Ostensibly, it was an outward display intended to be reassuring; what Theo actually did was siphon a tiny amount of the anxiety and worry that was flowing through her. _Scott makes this look so easy_ he thought to himself.

 

Raising his other hand up, he showed her the bag, “See? I brought food. Just give me a chance” he pleaded

 

Jenna Geyer smiled a little and nodded, she instantly recognized the packaging from her son’s favorite burger joint.

 

“Thanks Mrs. Dunbar, I promise he’ll be back to his normal annoying pup self in no time” he grinned and started for the stairs. Upon taking the first step he immediately realized the words that had left his mouth. He had called Liam “pup” in front of his mom.

 

“It’s Mrs. Geyer, but please, you can call me Jenna” she corrected with a tone of genuine kindness

 

_She didn’t notice_ Theo thought to himself silently breathing a sigh of relief in thanks to every deity he didn’t believe in for his amazing luck

 

“Theo?” she called out; the boy in front of her had still not turned around to face her.

Spinning on his heels, Theo made eye contact with the woman near the base of the stairs.

 

“Just . . . tread carefully, be gentle. He doesn’t mean any of it, you know?” she cautioned

 

“I know” Theo replied, “I doubt he mentioned it, but I’ve seen him through this before.” Theo thought back to their night in the Hale cabin in the middle of the woods.

 

“You sound like you’re a good friend to him then, Theo” Jenna said, appreciatively and with the kind of empathy and understanding only a mother could possess.

 

 “Your son is a lot tougher than he looks, Mrs. – ah, Jenna” he added, quickly correcting himself and earning the tiniest of smiles from the woman before him

 

Jenna nodded, and then made a shooing motion with her hands to tell the young man on the stairs to get on with his mission.

 

Theo hurried up the stairs to Liam’s door at the end of the hall.

 

\-------

 

Liam sat on the end of his bed with his fingers digging into his palms that were coiled into fists. Small drops of blood trickled down the sides of his hands and pooled up on the wooden bedroom floor. Liam was seething anger, but all he really wanted to do was cry.

“Could nothing go right today?” he mumbled, as a burning tear dripped down his cheek.

 

Suddenly he heard three knocks at his bedroom door.

“Mom, I’m. . .” he trailed off a bit trying to calm himself down enough to not betray his current emotional state, “I just need a bit more time, okay?”

 

“That’s either a compliment to your mom, or you’re saying I knock like a girl” came the very much _not_ his mother’s voice in reply from the other side of the door.

 

Liam suddenly remembered his planned study session with Theo. With everything that had happened, he had completely forgotten.

“Go away Theo!” Liam shouted at the door, “I’m . . .I’m not in a good place right now” he added more conciliatory

 

“You can't shut me out Liam” Theo challenged from behind the door. He heard the low wolf growl from inside the room in reaction.

“Plus, your mom mentioned your door doesn’t have a lock” he said while turning the handle and stepping into the room.

 

Once inside Theo took in the disaster scene that was all around him. Books and papers scatter to the floor, desk chair knocked over.

Then there was the pitiful sight of Liam sitting on the edge of his bed, the frame broken causing it to slump to the floor at an awkward angle.

 

“Go away Theo!” Liam growled threateningly, “I don’t want to hurt you” he tagged on

 

Theo set his bag down inside the room and gently closed the bedroom door behind him, before approaching Liam.

Each step closer yielded an increasingly louder growl from the troubled beta.

 

Everything inside of him was burning, the animal within wanted to lash out. He almost the last of his control when he felt the bed sag further as the chimera sat down next to him.

 

Theo just looked at the miserable looking boy next to him, “Well unless you’re going to rip my heart out, I think I can safely say that I’ve had worse” he snapped back

 

Liam didn’t respond, just kept digging his claws into the skin of his hands; long having given up on the mantra his alpha had taught him.

 

“Speaking of. .” Theo started gesturing toward the broken bedframe, “ do I have anything to worry about?” he asked raising one eyebrow

 

Liam finally looked up at him, completely confused as to what the chimera was getting at.

 

“Not that I mind, it’s just I like to know what I’m competing with. Not that anyone _could_ compete that is.” Theo continued with a smug look

 

Liam could have punched him in the face right there, but something changed. For some reason, he felt his anger start to ebb. Rather than a growl, his wolf let out more of a sigh of relief; like this tightly wound coil inside of him was finally starting to decompress a bit.

 

Liam leaned his head to his left side landing on Theo’s right shoulder. Theo instinctively put his arm around Liam protectively. Being wrapped in the warmth and scent of the chimera seemed to be lulling his wolf to sleep, the anger melting into calm.

 

“Rough day?” Theo asked rhetorically

“Mmhm” Liam hummed into Theo’s shoulder

 

“Want to talk about it?” he asked again

 

“No” Liam started. “Yes” he reluctantly sighed

 

“Okay then, let’s talk” Theo said reassuringly.

 

Liam opened his eyes and stared at some imaginary point on his wall, “do you think Kira’s sword would work on me?” he asked half-heartedly

 

Theo chuckled, “If that’s your way of saying you want to meet my family, I’m impressed” he laughed

 

Liam shook his head and nuzzled back into the chimera’s shoulder.

“Theo?” Liam asked, eyes closed. Theo just hmmed in response

“Thanks. Thanks for going right when everything else went wrong” he mumbled, taking comfort from the scent of the older boy

 

“So, are you going to tell me how you broke your bed?” Theo asked changing the subject

 

“I . . . I sat on it” Liam confessed, thinking back to shortly after he had gotten home from school. It wasn’t a lie, but his admission didn’t exactly convey the level of sheer _force_ he sat down with. After flinging his bag against the wall (all of the papers and books contained within spilling to the floor), he literally threw himself to his bed. He had done this countless times before, without issue, but this was apparently the Liam that finally broke the poor bed’s back.

 

 Theo started laughing, and Liam pulled away. “What?” he asked, not sure what the chimera was finding so funny

 

“I always knew you could be a hard ass, but. .” Theo managed between bursts of laughter.

 

Liam promptly punched him in the arm; not as hard as he would have earlier, but enough to replace the chuckles with a sharp yelp.

 

“We really need to do something about your anger” Theo grimaced while rubbing the sore spot on his arm with his free hand.

 

Liam immediately blushed, “Theo!” he called out, “my mom’s right downstairs,” he said through his teeth

 

Theo looked at him and raised an eyebrow coyly, “Well that wasn’t what I originally had in mind. . . .” he trailed off, “. . . but I’m flattered that you did” he teased, earning himself another hit on the arm, this time much softer.

 

“Given tonight, I was leaning more toward a run down at the preserve” Theo clarified

 

“Okay, but what’s so special about tonight?” Liam asked, confused

 

Theo shook his head. He _still_ wasn’t keeping track of the moon phases.

“It’s the last waxing gibbous, the brightest the moon will be before it’s full tomorrow night” he explained

 

“and that matters because?” Liam led on

 

“and that matters because the moon is almost full without actually being full. It’s the night when your control is just barely hanging on, when you can feel how close the wolf is, but there is just that tiny sliver of darkness keeping you from falling over the edge” Theo explained.

 

Liam thought over those words carefully; he wondered if Theo intended for his explanation to be so metaphorical. Theo was his sliver of darkness that kept him from careening over.

 

“Thought it might help with working on control” Theo added

 

Liam was about to admit that it sounded like a good plan when his stomach let out a very audible, very angry growl.

“Can we maybe stop and get something to eat first?” Liam asked, a pained expression on his face

 

Theo leaned down to retrieve the bag of food he had brought with him, before tossing it over to Liam.

“It’s probably a little cold by no-” he started to say before he was interrupted by Liam furiously tearing into the bag and practically shoving the entire burger into his mouth in a single bite.

 

“I vnt eetn wwl da” the beta tried to get out between bites.

Theo just shook his head and waited for the other boy to clear his mouth.

 

“Sorry” Liam said after swallowing the last of his sandwich, “I haven’t eaten all day” he clarified from his earlier statement

 

“So I can see” Theo observed as the beta devoured the last of the lukewarm fries that were in the bag.

Liam crumpled up the wrapper and tossed it into the now empty food sack.

 

“Thanks” Liam said as he tossed the bag into the nearby trash can beside his desk

 

“Ready to go?” Theo asked as he stood up from the bed; Liam nodded in agreement.

 

The two boys made their way down the stairs; Liam’s mother was sitting in the living room, pretending to read a book. At the sound of Theo and Liam coming down the steps, she immediately looked up, a worried expression on her face.

 

“It’s alright mom, Theo and I are just going out for a run” Liam explained to his mother

 

Theo nodded at Jenna from behind Liam, silently letting her know that the worst of Liam’s IED episode had indeed passed.

 

“Alright, you boys be careful and just don’t stay out _too_ late” Jenna cautioned from her seat on the couch; her worry turning into relief that her son was alright now.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll bring him back in one piece” Theo called back as he followed Liam out the front door.

 

Jenna let out a quiet sigh; she was glad Liam had friends that were looking out for him.

 

\-------

 

Theo parked the truck just on the outskirts of the Beacon Hills Preserve. It was dark, but the night sky was perfectly clear with the stars providing the perfect amount of ambient light. The moon was just beginning its steady ascent as Liam and Theo hopped out of the truck.

 

“See? You can feel it, can’t you?” Theo asked as Liam stared at the moon coming up over the horizon. He felt his wolf begin to once more stir within.

 

“Just remember, you still have full control tonight Liam. Don’t force your wolf back; he’ll just push back that much harder” Theo advised while he was finishing his warm-up stretches

 

Liam nodded in understanding

 

“You have to work with him, you both have to want the same thing” Theo continued earning another nod from the young beta.

 

“Oh, and Liam?” Theo said. Liam turned his head in response as he watched Theo start to take off down the trail, “last one back to the truck has to fill the tank” the chimera shouted before turning back around and quickening his pace.

 

“No fair! I wasn’t ready!” Liam shouted back before taking off after him. Theo would pay for that, he thought to himself.

 

\-------

Liam had to give him credit, Theo was extremely fast when he wanted to be; no doubt a perk of his coyote half.

The young beta tore through the woods after the chimera, following the sound of the other boy crashing through the branches.

 

Liam let his wolf come through, ceding precious control for the extra strength and speed he needed to catch Theo.

This time it didn’t feel like he was giving anything up though; boy and wolf working as one in dogged pursuit of their quarry.

 

_This must be what Theo was talking about_ he thought to himself as his legs propelled him through the brush. The moon had almost reached its zenith when Liam _finally_ caught sight of the older boy.

 

Taking a quick corner, Liam started to close the distance between them. Theo looked back over his shoulder to see a set of glowing yellow eyes gaining on him through the night.

 

_Good_. He thought to himself before quickening his pace.

 

As Theo continued his mad dash, the tree line broke into an open field; the moon was so bright without the tree cover that he didn’t even need his wolf vision.

 

Liam almost had him. He was just barely an arm’s length away from the other boy. His wolf salivating at how close they were to the chimera. _I almost have him_ , the singular thought pulsing through Liam’s mind

 

Theo looked back over his shoulder once more; he could practically feel Liam’s hot breath rolling down his neck. He flashed a cocky smirk as he saw the beta bearing down on him.

 

What he didn’t see was the mole hill beneath his next stride. Theo’s left foot twisted sharply, rolling his ankle, as his Converse sunk down into the collapsing mound sending him sprawling forward onto the ground below.

 

Of course, with Liam so close behind the beta didn’t have nearly enough time to correct; and so himself was sent flailing to the earth below as he tripped over the chimera, landing squarely on top of the older boy.

 

Still lying on top of Theo, Liam somehow managed to catch his breath. “I caught you!” he said proudly; he could feel the pride from the animal within pulsing through his veins. The sneaky chimera was pinned beneath him, there was no escape.

 

“This was supposed to be a race” Theo winced as he adjusted himself beneath the beta, “not sexually-frustrated-tag” he finished, earning an immediate blush from the boy on top of him.

 

“I . . .uh. . .” Liam started trying in vain to backpedal.

 

“Relax, it was a joke” Theo laughed, still pinned beneath Liam.

 

“Oh” the Liam said in reply, a little embarrassed

 

“You can get off of me anytime you want to, you know” Theo stated. He had quit struggle under Liam’s grasp, instead just laying back and doing his best to breath with the weight of the other boy heavy on his chest.

 

“What if I don’t want to?” Liam teased with a smirk while he stared into Theo’s eyes. Maybe it was the way the moonlight was shining, but the pale, ethereal beams turned the normally soft colored eyes into a kaleidoscope of iridescent greens.

 

“Then I guess I’ll have to make you” Theo replied, still trying to recover his breath

 

“I guess you will” Liam said breathlessly, gradually leaning further in and quickly closing the distance between their lips

 

All Theo wanted to do was pull him in tight, to grab the other boy by the shirt collar and collide. But what Theo needed even more than that was for Liam to want it. He didn’t want to be the beta’s guilty pleasure, his moment of weakness. He wanted Liam to want him for who he was, freely of his own volition; not plagued by impulses beyond his control.

 

 

Still, he leaned into Liam’s embrace. The younger boy quickly closed the gulf between them, bringing their lips crashing down onto one another.

 

Theo didn’t close his eyes.

 

That moment, a simple kiss for almost anyone else was almost beyond meaning for the two moonlit bathed sons of Beacon Hills.

 

Liam’s wolf practically purred in lascivious delight, as he eagerly lapped up every bit of Theo’s lips that his tongue could find.

 

All of sudden, in the midst of their quiet moment, the single beam of a flashlight cast its gaze upon them.

 

“Theo?” a gruff voice called out from the tree-line.

 

Liam quickly dismounted from the chimera, and the two boys climbed to their feet.

 

“Derek? What are you doing out here?” Theo asked into the darkness, recognizing the voice and scent of the other wolf almost immediately.

 

“Was tracking a new group of hunters” Derek said. The older wolf paused as he scented the night air around him. “You two shouldn’t be out here” he advised coldly. Theo could sense the elevated concern in his voice. Something was bothering him.

 

“I think we can handle a few hunters” Liam replied, with as much bravado as he could muster

 

“I wouldn’t be so sure” Derek started. “These aren’t like any hunters I’ve seen before”

 

“What do you mean?” Theo asked suspiciously

 

“Not sure yet, but something doesn’t feel right. Their work is too clean, too professional to be the normal Monroe dropouts” Derek replied, “Just, be careful”

 

“Well, we were just heading back” Theo quickly stated, after a quick nod of confirmation from Liam.

 

“Right” Derek stated, clearly not buying the obvious lie, “stay off the main trails, it’ll be safer” he added

 

Theo and Liam turned back to the woods for the journey back to the truck.

 

\-------

 

Theo pulled the truck over at the first gas station they found after they left the preserve.

 

“So you’re paying, right?” he asked his only passenger

 

Liam just glared at him.

 

“What? Technically I got in the truck before you did, ergo you’re filling Baby” Theo said defensively

 

“You named your truck ‘Baby’?” Liam said incredulously

 

“Just for that, I think she’ll be taking the 93 octane” Theo smugly quipped back.

 

Liam let out a sigh and stepped out of the cab so he could start pumping gas into the truck.

Swiping his card through the reader, he lifted the nozzle and selected the 89 octane button, “bet he won’t even notice” Liam chuckled sadistically to himself

 

While the pump was running Liam looked around the small station. There was only one other vehicle at the other pump. His gaze turned to the out of state plates on the shiny jet-black SUV. He couldn’t place where they were from, and there was no indication of origin on the plate on the front of the vehicle, just a black string of numbers with no letters, against a white background.

He didn’t give it too much thought.

Once he felt the click of the pump, indicating that the tank was full, he returned the nozzle to its holster and climbed into the cab of the truck.

 

Theo just glared at him. “You used the mid-grade, didn’t you?”

“How?!” Liam asked in bewilderment

 

“Wolf nose, remember?!” he asked, gesturing towards his nose

 

Liam pouted and folded his arms across his chest as he looked out the window.

 

\-------

 

Early Wednesday morning the fax machine inside the office at Beacon Hills High School hummed to life. One of the office ladies walked over towards it as it began its incessant BEEEP-SCREEECH-BRRRRP-BT-BT-BT while it printed out its received transmission:

 

TRANSFER REQUEST FORM

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at a multi-chapter fanfic (and also my first fic on ao3), hope you guys enjoy!


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